Buchanan backs 'resurgent' India to win series

John Buchanan, the former Australia coach, believes India are favourites to beat New Zealand in the upcoming series. Buchanan, in Christchurch with the England Lions for their contest with New Zealand A, felt the home side were inexperienced and in a transitional stage.

"This will be a little bit of an indication [of how good India are], how they play in New Zealand. I am expecting them to do well," Buchanan said. "India is on a resurgence, there is no doubt about that. So it will be interesting to track India's performance."

"New Zealand are presently a young side, obviously with [Daniel] Vettori the mainstay. They have a few experienced players, but not the depth. They are very reliant on the group that they have got. They have a new coach and a new support staff. They are in a bit of transitional phase."

India have not had much success in New Zealand, many feel, because of the tough conditions but Buchanan said it was about adjusting to the pace and bounce of the local pitches. "The ball just doesn't come on to the bat. Generally there is a bit of swing and generally there is grass on the wicket, so your top-order batsmen need to make that adjustment. After that it pretty good for batting."

Similar to what happened with Australia, India have key seniors nearing their retirements. Buchanan felt the transition was working out in a better manner for India as opposed to Australia, whose entire senior pack went in pretty quick time. "In the Indian side they have a wealth of experience. [Virender] Sehwag and [Gautam] Gambhir are well and truly settled. [Sachin] Tendulkar is still there, [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni has been around for long. There is Zaheer [Khan] and Harbhajan [Singh]," he said. "They have the strength of players there who can help the newer guys, the Sharmas and Rainas, really settle in that pack. It all is going very smooth for India."

Buchanan, who enjoyed success in three out of four Ashes series from 2001 to 2006-07, didn't feel Australia were one of the pack just yet. "Let's play it out over a period of time. Obviously South Africa and India will get a little more of a feel, but I still think Australia will be in the top three for a long time to come," he said. "I think No's 1, 2 and 3 are not defined by one year or one series. It's defined by a minimum of five years, when you have played most of the opposition in most of the conditions, both home and away."

India get first taste of windy conditions

Pragyan Ojha stood at the boundary of the Cricket Field adjoining the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Venkatesh Prasad hit a skier towards him, which Ojha comfortably got under. But then the wind carried it over the picket fence. Ojha looked towards Prasad, Prasad looked towards Ojha.

The wind carried the message fast enough. They had heard of it, some of them - like Prasad - had experienced it, but now everyone had come face to face with the famous New Zealand winds. Then Prasad shouted, "You should have tried still." This training session was India's first tryst with the windy conditions on an otherwise perfect day - sunny and mildly warm.

The session was an ideal one for the Indian players who have rarely played in such conditions, especially the ones in the limited-overs sides. India had to move to the adjoining ground because there was a two-day game on between the England Lions and Emerging New Zealand Players.

The game plan for Gary Kirsten today was straightforward. It started with simple running that went on for about an hour and a half. Endurance can be a problem in cold and windy conditions, and all the players were put to a stern test on that count.

During the fielding practice that followed, the fielders struggled to judge the carry on the ball, often running in too much. At least they now can be mindful of the wind before they enter match situation. Following the fielding the batsmen were divided into groups - one batted in the nets and the other went for the open-wicket practice. Virender Sehwag looked tired, and requested Kirsten to put him in the group that would go in later.

During the open-wicket practice came another aspect, which was perhaps more important, that of bowling into the wind. All the Indian bowlers made use of that. The bastmen practised against Prasad, Robin Singh, local bowlers, a bowling machine and even Paddy Upton. Praveen Kumar was surprised by a return catch from Rohit Sharma, which came back too fast to him. He was hit on the elbow in the follow-through, but it didn't cause too much damage, and Praveen was fit to bat later in the day.

However it is too early identify which of the bowlers would be better off bowling into the wind. "You would have noticed today we practised with all the bowlers into the wind," Kirsten said. "What we said was that every bowlers has got to do the hard yards some day. It's not easy, but we have to be prepared for that. It's about just adapting to the situation.

"You just don't turn up at 10am and win a game just because you are a better side on the paper. Someone's got to work hard out there. This team's very aware of that. Everyone wants to be a game-breaker."

They have been practising hard to come to terms with alien conditions, but India are staying away from discussing them too much when off the field. "We stay away from too much talk. Talk is dangerous," Kirsten said. "What we do is, come into the nets and spend time there. We had nearly a four-and-a-half hours session yesterday, and another four-hour session today.

"What we are focused on, is to make sure that the guys are ready when they are needed to be. It might take a bit of time during match play. Senior players who have been here pass on the information that they need, we pass the information too, but it's the players who have got to do the job."

Kirsten could well be the right man to pass on the information about New Zealand. In the seven Tests he played here, he averaged 58.70, as opposed to his overall average of 45.27, and managed two centuries. The second of his centuries in New Zealand came more than a year after India's disastrous tour in 2002-03.

"The last tour was six-seven years ago," Kirsten said. "We don't focus on the past, we are worried about what happens ahead. We certainly haven't had team meetings talking about what happened here six-seven years ago. We have played 17 games of cricket since September last year, and lost one. So we are very happy with our performance.

"This team doesn't focus on performance, but what we need to do on a daily basis. We believe that if we prepare and plan well, we give ourselves the best chance of a win. But we also know that the game is designed such that at anytime you can have a bad hour or two. We are very humble around that fact."

Kirsten was not bothered about the nature of the pitches, confident in the quality of his pace attack. "Everyone is talking about the wickets. It's not something that concerns our minds too much. We are well planned for any conditions, our team is well balanced. Our seamers have had a particularly good year, and we are not concerned too much about the conditions."

India arrive in New Zealand focussed on task

India have arrived in New Zealand, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni adamant that the lures of lucrative Twenty20 tournaments have not sidetracked or preoccupied his side. India have not won a Test in New Zealand since 1976 and Dhoni, on his first tour to the country, said the international game was top priority.

"Playing cricket for your country is most important for us. I'm playing for my country so it's not about money," Dhoni said on arrival in Christchurch. "With Indian cricket I know that if I'm playing for my country and doing well than I will get money that will be more than enough for me and my family so I don't think it is a distraction.

"Whatever fame or whatever status we have now is all because of that. It's about going onto the field and giving 100%, day in, day out for India. The money flows in but one thing for sure is that if you're not playing good cricket then you won't get the money."

This is India's first tour to New Zealand in six years. Coming off consecutive Test series wins over Australia and England and a 4-1 one-day success over Sri Lanka, Dhoni felt he had a productive unit. "I'm proud to say that this Indian team is not relying on any individual," he said. "Everybody is contributing and everyone has a definite role to play in the side and that's what they are doing.

"If we fail to get a good start from the openers someone in the middle order stands up. If the batsmen don't score too many runs then it's the bowlers who stand up and take the opportunity to prove themselves and that's why we are winning more games."

Dhoni felt the core of this side would hold firm after the retirements of the veterans. "There are people who can fill the gaps who won't really be a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid, but they accept they have been given a chance," he said. "Whoever comes in needs to be himself and play the kind of cricket he loves to play."

India begin their tour on February 25 with the first of two Twenty20 internationals. They also play five ODIs and three Tests.

India's chance to fix the blips

Surely it was not planned this way? It still is a nice little coincidence, though, that India should arrive in New Zealand on the day they won their first Test outside India , on February 20, 1968 … in New Zealand. They have only managed three more Test wins in New Zealand in the 41 years since - two on that same historic tour in 1967-68 - but India return to these shores better placed, in every other way, than the home side.

India are the stronger team on paper. They haven't been subtle in talking up their ambitions to be No. 1 and, occupying the third spot in both Tests and ODIs, they have a shot at gaining higher ground. The next 50 days of India's tour of New Zealand will both test and answer India's aspirations to reach the top. The ratings and rankings and the wins in England, West Indies and Australia over the last few years will amount to little if India repeat a sad trend that started in 1981 - that of no Test or ODI series win in New Zealand.

Is it a great aberration of our times that India haven't won in New Zealand for so long? That Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh haven't won a Test here? That the likes of Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly retired without that success on their CVs? The next 50 days will be a good time for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team to answer that.

What is clearly an aberration is that, between them, five of the six Indians to have played in New Zealand only tally 11 Tests here. The sixth, Sachin Tendulkar, has played eight, and scored only one century. Of the 72 Tests that Dravid has played abroad - and he hasn't missed many in his 13-year career - only four have come in New Zealand. It is this paucity of New Zealand tours that makes it such a test for India.

On India's last trip - two World Cups have passed since then - Stephen Fleming wondered aloud whether their star batsmen deserved the cult status they enjoyed. The kind of scores India managed did merit such a doubt. But ask anybody around - Indian, New Zealander - and they will tell you that the previous tour was an aberration.

Dravid recently told Cricinfo that everything went wrong on that tour - the timing, the weather, and the pitches. What Dravid can't explain, though, is what went wrong on the tour before that, in 1998. And the one before that. To focus only on the 2002-03 tour will be to take credit away from New Zealand, who have been an efficient team at home, and have competed well in India too. They drew their last series in India, and came close to winning the Mohali Test on their previous tour. In bilateral contests of late (a relative term given the infrequency of exchanges), New Zealand have had the upper hand, not necessarily playing with the stronger side.

Yet quietly India will feel confident. They know they have been on a roll in recent times. They know that in Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma they have a new-ball pairing to make any home side think twice before dishing out green tracks. But they also have history lined up against them.

This is once again a contest between an Indian team promising a lot and a New Zealand team that knows their home conditions well, a side who don't have the best quality possible but are fully capable of drawing the opposition to their level. Ask Australia, who barely escaped with a drawn home ODI series.

That this is not being seen as a grudge series after 2002-03, that the verbal disintegration hasn't already started, speaks of the nature of the contest. New Zealand v Indiahas never blown up into a fierce rivalry. The Test series have been short - the last two comprised just two matches, a treatment India reserve for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - and there are few memorable and close contests that come to mind. Neither have there been much mind games, and certainly not the "they were defensive" cry that comes out of the Indian camp every time they see an Australian.

The one obvious reason for the lack of the extra needle in these contests is that India have been miserable in New Zealand, and while New Zealand have fought well in India they haven't threatened to win a series. Also New Zealanders are not a big commercial draw in India (Harbhajan against Daniel Vettori is not half as hot as Harbhajan against Andrew Symonds). To stretch it a bit, as cricket historian and writer Ramachandra Guha once mentioned, India can afford to be condescending towards New Zealand, much in the way England and Australia used to be towards India. After all India's first series victory (1955-56 at home), and the first overseas Test and series wins (1967-68) came against New Zealand.

Which brings us to February 20, 2009. Forty-one years after their first Test win abroad, India can't afford to take New Zealand lightly. If 2002-03 was indeed an aberration, some spice was added today in the form of a chilly breeze in Christchurch to welcome India. New Zealand will not mind that all the attention, as in 2002-03, will be on India. They have made a living out of laying low and springing surprises.

In five days India will start a tour that will define how much they have really progressed after their World Cup debacle in 2007. And while there are no tour games, they will kick off this trip with two Twenty20 fixtures - the format in which they are world champions. New Zealand, again, won't grudge them that attention.

New ball New Zealand's best best, says Wright

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                 John Wright, who coached India from 2000 to 2005, believes the biggest difference between the current side and the one he brought to New Zealand in 2003 is the potency and stability of the bowling attack. Wright, a former New Zealand captain, said India would still harbour memories of their last tour here and that their top order, though formidable, could still be susceptible against the moving ball.

Since they have paired up, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan have become a force in different conditions and Wright pinpointed India's spearheads as key. "India must be very excited about his [Ishant Sharma's] potential," he said. "We've only really seen him bowling in subcontinental or Australian conditions, where it's pretty hard work for the pacemen. You'd expect once he gets to a place like New Zealand or England, where the conditions favour the seamers more, he'll be at least as influential again.

"Zaheer has really matured, he has really come of age," said Wright. "He had a spell of county cricket with Worcester and just did lots of bowling and that did him a lot of good. He hasn't really looked back since then."

According to Wright, New Zealand's best shot was to probe India's top order with the new ball. "If you can get early wickets, then it will be interesting. It is probably the same with most sides that come here, but they [India] won't have forgotten the last experience here," he said. "Sometimes those ghosts are hard to hide, so the key is putting them under pressure early and just bowling in a very tight area."

In 2002-03, India failed to go past 200 in either Test and lost the series 2-0. It was no different in the one-dayers which followed, as India were comprehensively beaten 5-2. Wright looked back at that tour and felt this time around India would feel far more comfortable about the standard of pitches.

"They'll be interested to see the first pitch. My recollection from last time was there were extreme conditions and probably not the best for watching, so let's hope there is a bit more even balance because they are the most exciting batting line-up to watch," he said. "The tour before, their batters did well and [Rahul] Dravid got a couple of hundreds at Hamilton, so he will have good memories of that. You've got a bloke like [Virender] Sehwag when he's on, it doesn't matter what the wicket is like."

In his role as New Zealand selector, Wright said he had "a few ideas" of how to help the home team. "I'm on the other side now and that may be helpful," he said. "I have a few ideas but it always boils down to what happens on the park, the accuracy and quality of the cricket our blokes play. They've [India] not won [a series] here for 41 years and they'll definitely want to put that right but I don't think they're thinking about settling old scores."

India begin their tour on February 25 with the first of two Twenty20 internationals. They also play five ODIs and three Tests.