Bouncy track awaits India at Hamilton

[SachDan]

A bouncy track with a good sprinkling of grass awaits India in the first Test of the three-match series against New Zealand starting on Wednesday, casting the die for a veritable war of attrition between bat and ball. One look at the wicket would convince anyone that the Kiwis, who had the Indians in a spot of bother on a lively Eden Park deck in the last ODI at Auckland, would use swing and seam to arrest the Indian batsmen who have been on a rampage on this tour. Though curator Karl Jackson said he would eventually shear the pitch of its "excess" grass, there should be appreciable assistance for seamers, who could be lethal if the conditions are overcast. The conditions would demand great discipline from the Indian batsmen to collar a seam attack, spearheaded by Franklyn James, an ace at swinging the ball. Kyle Mills, who on his day can trouble established batsmen, Iain O'Brien and either Chris Martin or new-find Brent Arnel could form the seam quartet. The wily Daniel Vettori (286 wickets in 89 Tests) could provide fizz and turn in case the quicks fail. However, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag have the skill and experience to quell the Kiwi attack, though they had had a deplorable tour in 2002-03, when India had mustered a series-high score of 219. Any extravagance could hurt the Kiwis as well, as they have an inexperienced batting line-up, which has yet-to-be-christened Martin Guptill. Interestingly, Ross Taylor (14), Jesse Ryder (6), Daniel Flynn (9), Tim McIntosh (2) and Brendon McCullum (41) have played barely 72 Tests between them, half the number of matches that Tendulkar (156) has played in. The young Kiwis would have to contend with the likes of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, who had rocked Australia and England even on docile wickets back home. If the duo, assisted by Lakshmipathy Balaji, could seam and cut the Kookaburra ball, the hosts could be vulnerable under pressure, as they were in the ODIs. Keeping this in mind, Kiwi coach Andy Moles said, "We don't want to play on a green seamer. We want to have a good game of cricket and I am sure that is what we will get." If the Blackcaps had complained about being tormented by Sehwag, they will now have to deal with the batting might of Sachin Tendulkar (12,429 runs), Rahul Dravid (10509) and VVS Laxman (6446), who have a staggering gross aggregate of 29,384 Test runs among them. The celebrated trio apart, India could also bank on Gautam Gambhir, who has arguably been India's best batting find in recent times, Yuvraj Singh and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to put the runs on the board. Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Balaji too can be handy with the willow. Given the wealth of experience and talent, self-belief and an enviable track record over the last 18 months, India begin the three-Test rubber as the favorites. Nevertheless, they would have to perform at their best to score a Test series victory in the antipodes, their first since the Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi-inspired 3-1 triumph in 1967-68.

http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Specials/India-in-New-Zealand/News/Bouncy_track_awaits_India_in_Test_opener/articleshow/4271353.cms

[DomainK]

Well....Ishant would be licking lips. Bring it on.

[Sachinism]

Kinda expected Ishant better sort himself out, hasn't really performed yet

[Ram]

That just about rules out the possibility of playing 2 spinners.

[Ram]

Btw, does the ball reverse swing at all, in NZ?

[cowboysfan]

That just about rules out the possibility of playing 2 spinners.

you need an all-rounder paceman to play 2 spinners in NZ-going in with just 2 pacemen is not viable imo.

[SachDan]

Btw' date=' does the ball reverse swing at all, in NZ?[/quote'] Anyways kookaburra balls they use in New Zealand dies out quickly..stops swinging after few overs but it does offer reverse swing to fast bowlers.

[umpire]

Btw' date=' does the ball reverse swing at all, in NZ?[/quote'] well don't know our team has not lasted that long for a ball to reverse swing :haha::haha::haha:

[fineleg]

well don't know our team has not lasted that long for a ball to reverse swing :haha::haha::haha:

True :eyedance: This bouncy/green pitches are to be expected for Tests - especially after the 5th ODI NZ will be encouraged. And with Ishant Sharma being a little offcolor, this is the best time for NZ to press home their local pitches advantage. Hope the Indian top and middle order batsmen are upto the challenge, and Ishant - please get your form back! After the 3-0 scoreline in the ODIs, there were several posts saying we are going to thrash them in the Tests. I hope the Indian batsmen can live up to to the expectations of securing a win in the Test series. Time to perform. Yep!

[msb1991]

Who the hell is Franklyn James?!

Btw' date=' does the ball reverse swing at all, in NZ?[/quote'] There should not be much stopping it. However, NZ tends to be a moist country and doesn't the ball have to be dry and the rough side abbrasively treated to aid reverse swing.

[Ram]

Who the hell is Franklyn James?! There should not be much stopping it. However, NZ tends to be a moist country and doesn't the ball have to be dry and the rough side abbrasively treated to aid reverse swing.

Well, so is England, but Zak reverse swung at will there. Its been reverse swing that has won us our last three most significant series wins, against England (in England), against Australia at home and once again, against England at home. If our bowlers can reverse swing the ball again this series, that could be the difference b/w the two sides. If the ball doesnt reverse swing, then this could a really tight series. Another difference maker could be the Kiwis’ inexperienced top-order. Guys like Mclintosh, Flynn Guptill may or may not be talented, but they have limited exposure at the test level. We must exploit that to strike at NZ early in their innings.

[fineleg]

Another difference maker could be the Kiwis’ inexperienced top-order. Guys like Mclintosh, Flynn Guptill may or may not be talented, but they have limited exposure at the test level. We must exploit that to strike at NZ early in their innings.

Regarding these folks who havent played much against India, ravi is right in mentioning a word of caution: India has a history of being generous to new blokes, be it batsmen or bowlers ("new" includes blokes who may have played against other teams, but havent played before against India)

[punjabi_khota]

To everything Fineleg says from now, I am gonna add "in bed" at the end. e.g. 1) Perf is the only thing that matters...in bed.

Time to perform. Yep!

In bed.

[Online]

Time to perform. Yep!

When is it time not to perform? :wall:

[suraj]

Regarding these folks who havent played much against India' date=' ravi is right in mentioning a word of caution: India has a history of being generous to new blokes, be it batsmen or bowlers ("new" includes blokes who may have played against other teams, but havent played before against India)[/quote'] Abe tu hamesha itna dara kyun rehta hai??

[fineleg]

suraj, I'll be very happy if the Indian team can win the series (actually it will be reasonably ok if we draw the series also). Regarding the post#12, I was only responding to the statement that there are inexperienced players in NZ team. Cannot take them lightly. It'll be good if we exploit them and get those batsmen out cheaply.

[The Outsider]

I'll be very happy if the Indian team can win the series

Thanks Lord for the small mercies of life that you bequeath upon us.

[punjabi_khota]

suraj, I'll be very happy if the Indian team can win the series (actually it will be reasonably ok if we draw the series also). Regarding the post#12, I was only responding to the statement that there are inexperienced players in NZ team. Cannot take them lightly. It'll be good if we exploit them and get those batsmen out cheaply.

in bed.

[Ram]

NZ will be kidding themselves if they think all they have to do is just prepare a green-top and the Indian batting will fold like a Persian mat. We got the better of England, in England, in seaming conditions in 2007. While their batsman struggled to cope with our bowlers’ guile, our batsman racked up big scores in two of the three tests. Same for Australia; Barring the first test in Melbourne, we outbatted Australia in both Sydney and Perth and matched them in Adelaide. The reinvention of Zak and the introduction of Ishant has given our team a dimension we’ve never had in our cricketing history. Not just that, the resurgence of Sachin after WC ’07 and the solidity he provides in the middle order along with VVS , is something most attacks have struggled to break through. After a very uncertain phase, when Sachin looked unusually susceptible against pace possibly because of the tennis-elbow injury, he now looks more solid than ever. VVS, despite being our team’s ‘Walking wicket’ according to legendary cricket analyst Donny has outperformed most of our batsman in terms of consistency. He even refuses to give forlorn looks for team pictures. Surely, we can depend on him. So bottom line, this time, it is not going to be like every other time.

[Dirty_South]

in bed.

lol ! :haha::haha: