Stiff Kiwi test awaits Dhoni : It's gonna be a dogfight

[Show_stopper]

Ross Taylor and Brendon Mcullum(sp?) are the only batsmen of theirs whom rate..and Brendon is too much of a slogger to be consistent.

[matma]

Cowboys fan - how long have you watched cricket for bro? Do you understand the nature of the SCG, and how it plays? The SCG is a turner; add that to the amount of stoppages and moisture in the pitch. The whole day yesterday in Sydney was stop-start for the NZ vs Aust womens T20 game. This was played before the NZ-Aus T20. Spinners have always been hard to get away at the SCG. The pitch was SLOW. I remember last year a certain Michael Clarke, who is a part-time spinner, ripping through the Indians on the last day at the SCG. Part-timer? I reckon David Hussey us underbowled by Ponting. He bowls alot in First Class cricket in Aust? Did you see how much turn he was getting with his off-breaks.....it was an amazing spell. I disagree with the assessment that a 'chink in the NZ armour is spin'. The Indians got smashed by Murali/Mendis on their last tour? Does that mean they cant play spin? No. All it means was that Sri Lanka's slower bowlers played to their potential. Our top-6 play spin very well. The bowler that worries me the most from India, is Amit Mishra. Now - leg-spin, we have absolutely nothing comparable in NZ. I am thinking Mishy will be the hardest to play for our top-6. Him and Bhajji operating in tandem will be a sight to see. By no means is it a chink in the armour, but respect is due when you play people like Bahajji. Being a Kiwi and proud supporter I cant wait to for the Indians to tour. In saying that, I dont really know who I will support, as India is my fav team to watch and has been years. The anticipation - cant wait. I'm going To Napier to watch the Test, and Chch for the ODI. Hopefully..hahaha.

[graphic23]

Cowboys fan - how long have you watched cricket for bro? Do you understand the nature of the SCG, and how it plays? The SCG is a turner; add that to the amount of stoppages and moisture in the pitch. The whole day yesterday in Sydney was stop-start for the NZ vs Aust womens T20 game. This was played before the NZ-Aus T20. Spinners have always been hard to get away at the SCG. The pitch was SLOW. I remember last year a certain Michael Clarke, who is a part-time spinner, ripping through the Indians on the last day at the SCG. Part-timer? I reckon David Hussey us underbowled by Ponting. He bowls alot in First Class cricket in Aust? Did you see how much turn he was getting with his off-breaks.....it was an amazing spell. I disagree with the assessment that a 'chink in the NZ armour is spin'. The Indians got smashed by Murali/Mendis on their last tour? Does that mean they cant play spin? No. All it means was that Sri Lanka's slower bowlers played to their potential. Our top-6 play spin very well. The bowler that worries me the most from India, is Amit Mishra. Now - leg-spin, we have absolutely nothing comparable in NZ. I am thinking Mishy will be the hardest to play for our top-6. Him and Bhajji operating in tandem will be a sight to see. By no means is it a chink in the armour, but respect is due when you play people like Bahajji. Being a Kiwi and proud supporter I cant wait to for the Indians to tour. In saying that, I dont really know who I will support, as India is my fav team to watch and has been years. The anticipation - cant wait. I'm going To Napier to watch the Test, and Chch for the ODI. Hopefully..hahaha.

Nice. That should be fun. And I think its not so much that playing the spinners will be a problem as much as it is the insecurity for the top order batsmen and Ross Taylor that if they fail, there's a reasonable chance that the rest of the batting order might collapse, so they'll take it a bit slower if there are couple of early wickets. I still expect India to win the ODI series and T20s but I expect an awesome contest because if NZ are anything, then they are fighters [apart from that strange give away against WI earlier this season].

[cowboysfan]

Cowboys fan - how long have you watched cricket for bro? Do you understand the nature of the SCG, and how it plays? The SCG is a turner; add that to the amount of stoppages and moisture in the pitch. The whole day yesterday in Sydney was stop-start for the NZ vs Aust womens T20 game. This was played before the NZ-Aus T20. Spinners have always been hard to get away at the SCG. The pitch was SLOW. I remember last year a certain Michael Clarke, who is a part-time spinner, ripping through the Indians on the last day at the SCG. Part-timer? I reckon David Hussey us underbowled by Ponting. He bowls alot in First Class cricket in Aust? Did you see how much turn he was getting with his off-breaks.....it was an amazing spell. I disagree with the assessment that a 'chink in the NZ armour is spin'. The Indians got smashed by Murali/Mendis on their last tour? Does that mean they cant play spin? No. All it means was that Sri Lanka's slower bowlers played to their potential. Our top-6 play spin very well. The bowler that worries me the most from India, is Amit Mishra. Now - leg-spin, we have absolutely nothing comparable in NZ. I am thinking Mishy will be the hardest to play for our top-6. Him and Bhajji operating in tandem will be a sight to see. By no means is it a chink in the armour, but respect is due when you play people like Bahajji. Being a Kiwi and proud supporter I cant wait to for the Indians to tour. In saying that, I dont really know who I will support, as India is my fav team to watch and has been years. The anticipation - cant wait. I'm going To Napier to watch the Test, and Chch for the ODI. Hopefully..hahaha.

the fact remains that it was a t20 game and hussey is still a part timer.he came on at a critical juncture in the match and the kiwis were unable to rotate the strike and get even easy singles with the field spread out and had to resort to repeated reverse sweeps.i am not saying all kiwis players are suspect against spin but this will be the a best spin attack (as much as it is)they would have faced.our spinners just have to stem the run flow in the middle overs(in both odis and t20) and they would have done their job.they were successful against the lankans who are pretty good against spin so i am optimistic about our spin attack not to mention zak and ishanth.

[matma]

Graphic - that's a good analysis bro. Ross Taylor has the burden of being the senior batsmen in our team. He is probably our best batsmen, although I believe Daniel Flynn is maybe the best technically correct batsmen in NZ. He just needs the scores to go with them. For the first time in 5-6 years I like the look of our top-6. 1. T. McIntosh: slow scorer in the Mark Richardson model. Can occupy the crease for a long time. 2. M. Guptil: slow starter but a natural stroke maker. 3. D. Flynn: solid, in the Dravid mode. Hard to get rid of. When he's in, he is in. 4. R. Taylor: stroke maker, scores fast, sometimes plays one-too many shots. 5. J. Ryder: stroke maker, scores fast, perfect middle-order batsmen for NZ. 6. G. Elliot: nudges it around; workman-like innings. Although they are rather untested. The Indian tour will show us whether or not they have what it takes to play at the International level.

[graphic23]

Honestly, I think all of #s 4,5, and 6 can interchange spots with each other depending on the situation and thats a terrific thing to have. We have that now where we can bump or delay anyone in the batting order because Yuvraj and down, the players are reasonably accustomed to play at any spot. I think Vettori at home and the medium paces with good accuracy will test our top order, and it will be fun to watch Gambhir against the pacers because he likes getting on top early.

[spectre]

Vettori should better plead with their administrators to buy more land and increase the size of the grounds :haha: This Indian batting order has big hitters everywhere and its a dangerous proposition for the hosts

[rahulrulezz]

Raina is an awesome talent. He is the most stylish batsman in the team and his shots are a treat to watch He has all shots in the book, the on the up drive in the T20 which almost went for a six was simply incredible, how many batsman can play such shots He just need to tone down his aggression a bit and concentrate on playing big innings, he certainly has the skill and talent to do that

I dont agree with this but then again its your opinion... IMO, players like Sachin, Yuvraj, Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Y.Pathan play way better when they are in their agressive mode.... as a matter of fact, Rohit Sharma played amazingly good in IPL and in OZland coz he was agressive... I dont agree with this "take your time, settle down, shouldering good line and length balls" in Limited overs Cricket...

[graphic23]

Haha, you're true to your avatar. Sehwag is a unique talent. Gambhir is doing well because he is able to show controlled aggression. Sachin's 117 had only few aggressive shots but many many effective shots. Thats how you play. Not the Afridian swing bat when ball come style.

[jf1gp_1]

all will depend on the kind of pitch NZ prepares n i dont expect them to prepare flat tracks and hand over the advantage to us. in the last few yrs when ever we played ODI on sporting wicket we needed tendulkar to rescue us; in between we also played a 20/20 against SA in a test match. its going to be a very tricky tour;lets just hope we get sort-of-sporting wickets and not the kind we got 6 yrs ago cause if that happens get ready for a long painful month

[rahulrulezz]

Haha' date=' you're true to your avatar. Sehwag is a unique talent. Gambhir is doing well because he is able to show controlled aggression. Sachin's 117 had only few aggressive shots but many many effective shots. Thats how you play. Not the Afridian swing bat when ball come style.[/quote'] so u think aggressive batting means Afretardi style of batting... Aggressive style is what when you are always looking to score runs be it either one, two, four or a six..... did u notice why India is doing good from last 2-3 years... coz we dont play like your pansie style of batting...we always look to score runs.. i remember in 90s, whenever a wicket used to fell, new batsmen would rather drink Karela ka Joos than score runs.. 1 wicket gone and Voila, there goes next 6 overs.... but you know what,u can quit Indian cricket and follow England team...u can enjoy ur sissy tuktukky sytle of batting

[graphic23]

Haha, the aggression for Raina in question was not whether he can keep the scoreboard ticking or not. It was that he often plays a big shot that is one too many and gets out when he can go on and make many more runs. That was what I was addressing. And um, considering how you're the Shoaib fan here, you're asking me to quit watching Indian cricket?

[Don Sharma]

NZ will COMPETE in ODI's and T20's but India will thump them in Tests. None of those listed batsmen are Test material except for Taylor ofcourse. NZ's best chance of putting up any fight in Tests is to hit out against Indian bowlers, play for runs rather than time. I thought they were very conservative against WI bowlers.

[Don Sharma]

all will depend on the kind of pitch NZ prepares n i dont expect them to prepare flat tracks and hand over the advantage to us. in the last few yrs when ever we played ODI on sporting wicket we needed tendulkar to rescue us; in between we also played a 20/20 against SA in a test match. its going to be a very tricky tour;lets just hope we get sort-of-sporting wickets and not the kind we got 6 yrs ago cause if that happens get ready for a long painful month

Sporting wickets wil suit India more than NZ. Do you think Iain and Co. are far better than Zak/ Ishanth? I dont think so. Last time it was a different story all together,our batsmen werent expecting green tops and Bond caught them napping. I bet, even if Bond plays, our batsmen wud play way better than wat they did 6 yrs ago.

[fineleg]

Sporting wickets wil suit India more than NZ. Do you think Iain and Co. are far better than Zak/ Ishanth? I dont think so. Last time it was a different story all together' date='our batsmen werent expecting green tops and Bond caught them napping. I bet, even if Bond plays, our batsmen wud play way better than wat they did 6 yrs ago.[/quote'] sri, Option 1: Flat pitches will hand over the advtg to India. Our batsmen will hammer them in current form. Option 2: Pitches that aid pace bowling gives NZ a chance - maybe they can trouble our batsmen - they have to take that chance despite NZ having the problem of facing ZK/IS. Option 1 will clearly be a setback for them.

[spectre]

Haha' date=' the aggression for Raina in question was not whether he can keep the scoreboard ticking or not. It was that he often plays a big shot that is one too many and gets out when he can go on and make many more runs. That was what I was addressing. And um, considering how you're the Shoaib fan here, you're asking [i']me to quit watching Indian cricket?

Exactly, Raina tries to take unnecessary risks, when he looks so comfortable @ the crease and dominating the bowlers for ex: in that T20, he got a six in that over, and asking rate came down to nearly 7 per over, he was on 35 looking menacing, he had a perfect opportunity to milk the bowling and take the team to victory what he did, went for another biggie, when a fielder was posted there and started the team slide He is a superb runner between wickets, rotates strike very well, needs to just avoid going for too many risk shots

[Gambit]

Beating NZ in NZ in ODIs is difficult and their lineup has some good hitters who will be even more deadly on the small NZ grounds. Our bete noires McMillan and Cairns have gone but the likes of Taylor and McCullum are more than capable of being a pain in the neck for us. It should be a very good ODI series.

[Don Sharma]

sri, Option 1: Flat pitches will hand over the advtg to India. Our batsmen will hammer them in current form. Option 2: Pitches that aid pace bowling gives NZ a chance - maybe they can trouble our batsmen - they have to take that chance despite NZ having the problem of facing ZK/IS. Option 1 will clearly be a setback for them.

Finey, on the contrary I feel with flat pitches their outta form batsmen can put up some runs on the board. If they play on green tops they can expect to be blown away given their current form and the form of our bowlers. Surely they cant bowl this Indian team under 200runs in two consecutive inns and I dont expect them to surpass 200 runs in two inns either, on sporting wickets. Its all an opinion, we are all entitled to have one.:two_thumbs_up:

[suraj]

He will learn (hopefullly!!) For me his bigger task is being able to prove himself on the biuncy/tricky pitches; I sure do hope he shows the same path as Gambhir and overcomes the initial doubts to establish himself Can you imagine a next gen of Gambhir, Raina, Pathan with the Yuvi, Sehwag etc we can be so dominating then!!

[jf1gp_1]

Sporting wickets wil suit India more than NZ. Do you think Iain and Co. are far better than Zak/ Ishanth? I dont think so. Last time it was a different story all together' date=our batsmen werent expecting green tops and Bond caught them napping. I bet, even if Bond plays, our batsmen wud play way better than wat they did 6 yrs ago.

i dont think its any different this time, we are coming off having played on flat or spinner friendly tracks; no practice game t20 hardly prepares you for an ODI. If the ball Moves around and thats the key, we will have a tough time clearing those "small grounds"