NZ tour India’s harbinger of World Cup: Sunil Gavaskar
After a welcome break, Team India is on road once again, on the second
leg of what is going to be a long and important overseas season. South
Africa was a huge learning curve for many young players and now they
will be better prepared for playing on foreign lands. (Also Read: NZ play well as a unit: Ravi Shastri)
They will
certainly go to New Zealand with their confidence enhanced after the
South African tour. The way they fought back in the Tests after losing
the ODI series must give a lot of confidence, especially to the batsmen.
India might have lost the Durban Test but the batsmen did very well in
both matches and that should stand them in good stead.
However,
it is not right to assume that winning their last ODI and Test series in
New Zealand (in 2008-09) will give India an advantage. It was a very
different team. Also, New Zealand are in good form – they recently won
the Test series against West Indies and drew the ODI series. The Indians
know that they will have to play very well to be able to beat the
hosts.
As it generally does, it will help
the Indian batsmen that they begin the tour with the ODIs. You can start
off playing freely without worrying about your wicket too much, as you
have to in Tests. If you play your shots and get some good runs, the
confidence level rises in Tests. While it is a big plus for the batsmen,
it may well be different for the bowlers because we have seen of late
the bowlers have taken a pounding in the limited overs cricket, in all
parts of the world.
The two Indian batsmen who didn’t have a very
good tour to South Africa are Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. As
opening batsmen their performance will be crucial in the ODIs. What they
need to keep in mind is that they must wait for the ball to come to
them. It will not come as quickly on to the bat as it did in South
Africa, so they will have to play the ball as late as possible.
A
new face has been included in India’s pace attack for this tour in
Ishwar Pandey. The tall and well-built lad has earned his place in the
squad with some impressive domestic performances in the last couple of
years. The confidence of the wickets he has been picking in domestic
competitions should be maintained by playing him straight away. But the
team management might look for experienced bowlers in the first couple
of game and give Ishwar a chance later in the series.
Another
newcomer is Stuart Binny. He is the kind of finisher that India need at
No. 6 or 7 and he stands a very good chance of making the playing XI. R
Ashwin is India’s No. 1 spinner but whether India will go with him or
Ravindra Jadeja will depend on the conditions. The composition of the
New Zealand team will also be a factor. If they play a lot of
left-handers, Ashwin will be preferred.
You
can expect pitches where the ball will seam around, which is given in
New Zealand. But the authorities there also know that India have a
quality new-ball attack and preparing highly pacer-friendly wickets
might backfire.
This ODI series
holds another significant importance for Team India. The fact that India
are touring both host countries of 2015 World Cup – New Zealand and
Australia – this year, is the best thing that could’ve happened to them.
Since the young team will be able to experience the conditions of both
countries, they won’t feel completely out of their comfort zone when
they return there to defend the World Cup.
(As told to Shirin Sadikot)
source: bcci.tv
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