The Black Caps go into the final Test having claimed their first series win in India. Photo: photosport
The Black Caps are many Indian cricket fans' second-favourite team, but they could leave the passionate spectators in Mumbai with plenty to ponder if the visitors win a third Test in a row.
Coach Gary Stead said throughout the current tour of the subcontinent - where New Zealand had claimed their first Test series win in India - there were moments where his side had silenced the stadiums in Bengaluru and Pune, and they planned to do it again.
"They're an incredibly loud and passionate supporter group...what we've done well is sometimes silence the crowd.
"You take a few key wickets and you can be sitting down in the dungeons of the dressing room and you know there is silence, which probably means we've taken a wicket.
"So that can be a good thing and I think Kiwis are seen as a positive side over here as well," Stead said.
New Zealand have a spinner and a seam bowler under an injury cloud heading into the final test starting on Friday.
The hero of the second test, spinner Mitch Santner, and paceman Matt Henry, who demolished the Indian batting line-up in the first test will both undergo fitness tests on the eve of the dead-rubber in Mumbai.
Kiwi spinner Mitchell Santner, right, is under an injury cloud. Photo: photosport
Stead said Santner picked up a side strain in the first innings of the second test and is in "a little bit of discomfort" and Henry had a glute injury that kept him out of the second Test.
Batter Kane Williamson would not travel to India for the third Test as he rehabilitated a groin injury in New Zealand, but Stead said "at a push" he could have played in India should he have been needed.
With the series wrapped up and an England Test series in New Zealand next month, Stead was confident Williamson would be ready for the first Test in Christchurch.
What awaits the Black Caps in the middle of Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium could be a spin-friendly pitch, Stead said, or something that did not follow tradition.
"The pitches we have had here have been a little bit different to perhaps to what we've expected.
"The Bangalore one certainly was a lot harder and didn't spin too much, whereas the last pitch did.
"I guess that's one of the most pleasing things is we think we've got a squad here that we can adjust and adapt.
"A series win in itself is incredible, but what we want to do is keep trying to get better every game and we're going to very different circumstances now.
"The red clay is very different - the way that it performs is different - so we're going to have to adapt quickly."
Another win would help the Black Caps in the World Test Championship. Photo: Photosport
Winning the third Test is also part of a bigger picture.
"For the World Test Championship, there is no doubt that one more win here would certainly help us.
"I remember the first time we were in this situation of qualifying for the first WTC. We had to win four Tests on the bounce and managed to.
"So hopefully there is some similarities to that that we can lean on and say, 'We've done it before here's an opportunity to do something very special again'."
Stead, who had faced criticism after the Black Caps' early exit from the T20 World Cup this year, said he was "not sure" if the results in India changed his mind about his future as coach. His contract was up in June next year.
"It's not about me - it's about our team trying to get better. I think we have a lot of trust in what we are trying to do here as well, so I certainly don't feel any personal satisfaction [from the series victory]."
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