Another series decider, another opportunity awaits New Zealand

And just like that, yet again New Zealand have managed to take a series against India to a decider. After India's convincing performances in the last few months, twice in as many limited overs series against the Kane Williamson-led side, they have been stretched to the final match of the series.

On one hand it is a testimony of New Zealand's game, which was built after getting 'acclimatised to the conditions', courtesy the A tour, through which six players were selected. On the other hand, India eventually managed to register a win over New Zealand in T20Is to take the series to the final game. Mitchell Santner reckons eventually it will all boil down to who can handle pressure better.

"It's one exciting thing for us that we've taken them to the decider for the last two series now," Santner said on Monday. "It's exciting because India has been playing some good cricket in the last few months. Both teams will be feeling the pressure, both teams will want to win.

"It's about performing on the day and who'll turn up tomorrow to put a good performance and hopefully take the series. And I'm sure they'll do exactly the same. They played well in Kanpur under a little bit of pressure as well so we still have to turn up tomorrow and play the best we can and perform our roles."

The left-arm spinner has played down the pressure on the visitors, who have fared quite badly in series-deciders against India, historically, and played along the cliched line of 'we will take this as any other game'.

"Last year we didn't put a performance like we wanted," the all-rounder said. "In Kanpur we were close. But I guess every time we get to a decider, it's positive. We're playing pretty good cricket at the moment so we'll take that into tomorrow. We'll treat this is another game and hopefully put up a similar performance and take the series 2-1. I guess it's better than being 2-0 down so we have a chance to win a series in India which is tough to come by."

However, much of how New Zealand plan to go about with the final game will be decided only a few hours before the match gets underway. A few spells of thunderstorms ensured that the covers were on throughout the day. The team decided to take a break day from training.

With a new ground set to host the series decider - Thiruvananthapuram's Green Fields - not much is known about the conditions; not even whether the game will be shortened, if at all it happens.

"We don't really know how it's going to play or how well it's going to drain. So we have to turn up tomorrow and think we are going to play tomorrow and prepare accordingly. Once we get to the ground we'll wait and see. Everyone in our camp is excited to play. Hopefully we can play and win."

He has, however, accepted that the lack of idea about the conditions and the surface is going to make it difficult for them to plan well ahead of the final T20I. As a result, they are unlikely to make major changes to the side and the combination that won the last match

"It's a bit tough because you don't have too much feedback on the surface," the all-rounder added. "I'm sure it's going to be a pretty good surface so we have to prepare accordingly for that. We'll turn up tomorrow nice and early, have a look at the surface and then pick the appropriate team. We just have to try and replicate our last game.Similar is the case with India. Much like New Zealand, the hosts decided to take a break ahead of the final match, and the conditions at the Green Fields Stadium, which is set to host its maiden international match, is as alien to them."

However, unlike Santner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar put up a more confident front on this regard. "No matter what the condition is, it will be beneficial for us since we are playing in India. It will be new for us, challenging for us, but we know how to tackle it."

The Indian pacer, while stating that all the players are fit and available for selection, said that the final call will only be taken on Tuesday, once the team assesses the pitch and conditions.

The test of pressure will not only be on India and New Zealand, but also the Kerala Cricket Association - to display how well the modern sub-air technology functions in their newest showpiece - the Green Fields Stadium.