Blogs India v New Zealand
February 24th, 2009 by writemanHistory is totally against India. Statistics say that we haven’t won a single series in the last 41 years in New Zealand. In the last series led by Ganguly we lost 0-2 in tests and 2-5 in ODIs. The irony is that we never made more than 200 in any innings of the test matches in that series. The wickets will be seamer friendly. Our bowlers could do well, partly because they are good and partly because NZ doesn’t boast of many top class batsmen like we have. Ishant and Zaheer should hunt well. But our batsmen hold the key. If they put up decent scores and stand up to their reputation we have a fair chance to win. If Sachin, Dravid, and Laxman do well in tests and Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, and Dhoni can justify the “rockstar” label we will have a huge concert.
There are other things that could affect the outcome the series. India going straight into a match without any practice or warm up match will work in NZ’s favor. And they want to cash on this. NZ wants India to lose the very first match to get an edge. India will have to cope with the conditions as quickly as possible. The practice sessions at the nets are the only time they get to adapt.
New Zealand will be keen to not let a chance slip by as they did in Australia during the recent Hadlee-Chappell series. Vettori will be extra cautious to let any chance go by this time. And probably he will want to come strong right from the word go utilizing every advantage to his favor, including valuable tips from John Wright who knows many players and their chinks. And the New Zealnd side has a good mix of talent. Talents like Grant Elliot with an average of 52+ in the last ODI series against Australia could test our bowlers. But the most interesting contest will be that between our batsmen and their bowlers. That will largely decide the fate of the series.
