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India 'A' to tour New Zealand in September 2012

Sidhoni

By Sidhoni
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rkt.india Grand Master

rkt.india

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India A tour to New Zealand: 1st unofficial ODI: New Zealand A v India A at Lincoln, Sep 18, 2012 Stream: http://www.blackcaps.co.nz/ New Zealand A set to take on India A at Lincoln

The Indian A cricket team arrived in Christchurch on Saturday, ahead of their five match series against New Zealand A at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. The two and a half week tour will consist of three ODIs, one three-day match and a four-day match. India have squad of 16 and will be captained by Abhinav Mukund. The 22 year-old is one of four players to have represented India at the top level. Alongside those more experienced members India have nine players under the age of 23. One of those is recent Under-19 World Cup winning captain Unmukt Chand. The19 year-old struck an unbeaten 111 in the final of the recent tournament and caught the eye of NZC selection Manager Kim Littlejohn. “There are some exciting young players in the Indian side with a number of guys with international experience,” said Littlejohn. “I was fortunate enough to see the Indian captain Unmukt Chand play in the recent Under-19 World Cup and he was really impressive.” The Indian side will undoubtedly be a challenging task, but New Zealand also have quality cricketers within the group. Nine players in the 50-over squad have previously featured for the BLACKCAPS, while the three-day/four-day side have ten former representatives. Littlejohn is confident with the side picked, but believes that the series is also about the players developing their skills to cope against world-class opposition. “We’ve got a number of experienced players as well as some young guys pressing for a spot in the BLACKCAPS,” said Littlejohn. “The squad includes Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Daniel Flynn who have recently returned from India alongside George Worker and Hamish Rutherford who are exciting young for the future. “A key part of the series is to give guys the opportunity to experience international cricket and get a feel for what is required to take the next step.” It will be the first series of the summer to be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, but it won’t be a completely new setting to all of the Indian team, with a number of their squad having played at the venue in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup. While New Zealand might benefit a little playing in their own conditions, it’s expected the pitch should provide a great surface for some entertaining cricket. “There might be a slight advantage to the home side, but I think it looks like a fairly even cricket wicket,” said Littlejohn. “One thing that really needs to be highlighted is that the ground-staff have done a fantastic job to produce some really quality surfaces. “This ground here is as good as anything you’d find in the world in terms of international cricket.” All games will start at 10:30am and be free entry to the public.
Selectors notice only big hundreds: Abhinav Mukund
India 'A' captain and Tamil Nadu batsman Abhinav Mukund chats with Cricbuzz's Karthik Lakshmanan ahead of India A's tour to New Zealand. The top-order batsman talks about his challenges in leading the side, their plans, his stint with the senior team and his goals for the season. What are the challenges you see as captain of India A in the tour of New Zealand? I think it's a great honour to be leading your country even though it's the 'A' Team. Generally, it's a very prestigious thing to be made captain of the 'A' team, especially because it's a very young team; all the players are 21, 22 or 23 so there is a lot more responsibility on my shoulders because I have been on a few away tours and hopefully I will be able to guide them to do well on foreign soil. The tour of West Indies a few months back did not go well. What was the reason, and does that add more pressure going into this tour? Yes, there will be a little bit of pressure but hopefully we are much better prepared than we were when we toured West Indies. In that tour, we landed there and played our first Test in just 2 days' time. Hopefully, we can turn things around, because we didn't have a great tour (of West Indies) last time. As a captain, what's the line of thinking going into tours like this? Is winning more important, or is it about giving chances to players and testing them in foreign conditions? It has to be a mixture of both. They have selected the best of India's young talents and the best team will play. It's also very important to keep our national pride at stake and win in all formats in the tour. There's definitely a lot of focus on winning. How do you see the 'A' team tours and how important are they, especially after what happened in England and Australia last season? Personally, it has been a great exposure on my part. From my point of view, there is always an added pressure when your travel abroad because you are tested technically in foreign conditions. Personally, it will be a great experience for me; I have already done two 'A' tours in England and Australia apart from the West Indies tour, so this is going to be my fourth 'A' tour. These are the challenges that you will have to face before getting into international cricket. I had a small stint with the Indian team, but I want to get back there much better prepared and hopefully these are stints which will help me in my preparation. The Indian Test team is undergoing a transition phase now. How do you and the other youngsters see it? Is there a pressure to match the standards set by the outgoing seniors? Someone asked me a similar question in England, on whether I will be able to fill Sehwag's shoes. I think that's not a right question, or maybe I'm not capable enough of answering that. To replace someone who has played 90 to 100 Test matches is difficult for any youngster coming into the side. As far as I am concerned, what I would try and do is play to the best of my potential. There is so much talent around in the country, and probably we will fill the boots sometime in the future. The transition/rebuilding phase is something which a lot of people will have to come to terms with, I think that's very important from everyone's point of view. How would you rate yourself in the 5 Test matches that you have played? You played all your Tests abroad, do you see that as a disadvantage? I don't want to give any excuses. When I look back at it, I think I could have done way much better than what I did. I could have played ahead of my potential, but I guess it happens. As far as I am concerned, I made a lot of progress as a batsman after my stint with the Indian team. I learnt so much from the seniors around me and those were experiences that will only help me grow as a batsman. You have a penchant for big runs in the domestic arena and you've scored some big centuries.... Right from the days when I was playing for school, a lot of people have told me that a wicket is very precious and you shouldn't give it away very easily to any bowler. Batting is much easier when you're settled; it's actually very easy to go from 100 to 200 than from 0 to 100. When you have made such a big effort to get to 100, why should you give it away? That's the entire logic that I go behind. Nowadays in the Ranji Trophy, a lot of people are getting centuries in almost every game, so I don't think the 100s are being noticed by the selectors. It's only when you get big centuries in domestic cricket that you get noticed. Right now, it's very tough to get into the Indian team as an opener. Will you be ready to compromise on your opening position, if the need arises? You scored a century in a tour game in India's tour of England last year batting at number 3, and that led to speculations that you might bat in the middle order after Sehwag arrived for the series... It's completely the management's call. I don't think I have any choice. I've been born and brought up as an opening batsman and I don't think I'm very good at batting in the middle order. I don't think I'm very good at batting anywhere else apart from opening, but if the team management thinks otherwise, then it's completely up to them. I don't want to be someone who is shuffling up and down the order continuously; maybe it's fine in one-day cricket but in Tests I think it's important to have a solid position. You average more than 50 in first class as well as List A, but you're generally seen only as a Test prospect. Is there a danger of being branded a uni-dimensional player so early in the career? That's maybe because I have not played a lot of 20-20 cricket. I haven't played a lot of IPL games since I'm part of a very strong CSK team and it's difficult for me to break in. But as far as I'm concerned, the growth has been really good on my part. I wasn't a great One Day batsman but I've improved over the years and hopefully I'll improve as a T20 batsman soon. I want to establish myself in all 3 formats of the game because I realise that that's the future. Has being part of a strong side like CSK robbed you off a chance to get the platform that many players are getting - the IPL? Many youngsters are using the IPL as a platform to get into the national side... I agree with you, but in my case I think what has happened is that CSK has helped me a lot even though I haven't got many games. The atmosphere in the CSK set-up the players, the support staff and the team in general has helped me in my growth as a player. It has been frustrating to sit out, and the temptation to move out is obviously there but I would like to be patient. I would like to wait for my opportunities wherever I am. I don't know what the future holds for me (in IPL) - the next season is a long way ahead but I would like to improve myself and hold a proper place in the team by next year. You are a part-time spinner in the domestic cricket. How much do you concentrate on it? I bowl a lot for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit, especially in the one-dayers. I fill in as a fifth bowler, but it has taken a back-seat because I want to improve as a batsman and a fielder first. Bowling is my third favourite department in cricket, after batting and fielding. Fielding is a very important part of today's cricket and I want to be among the top fielders at least in the country, if not in the world. Any specific goals for the season ahead? I've never set goals for myself, because they have never worked for me! I want to improve my technique and work on things that I can work on. The results will come if I do that, and I want to be patient till that happens and don't want to rush myself too much.
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Chandan Newbie

Chandan

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Play postponed between NZ A and India A The first One Day match between New Zealand A and India A has been postponed due to pitch conditions at Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Six overs into the match the umpires decided to postpone the game until tomorrow. A new match will commence on a different pitch at Bert Sutcliffe Oval. The rescheduled match will be played on the same pitch as the one that was used for a practice game between New Zealand A and the Auckland Aces on Sunday, which was a high scoring encounter. NZC Head of Cricket Operations Lindsay Crocker said: Å°ther pitches which have been played on this season, including practice ones, have played well and historically been of a high standard. ŸeÃÍl be looking into the issue and will be closely analysing the structure and surface to see what went wrong on this particular pitch and how to avoid a repeat. With play suspended the decision has been made to begin the match again tomorrow to ensure a full 50 over game. All scheduled One Day matches will still be completed, albeit pushed back by one day. In an unrelated decision, it has also been agreed between both camps that the Three-Day match that was to be played September 27th- 29th will now be a Four-Day match beginning September 26th. The final four-day match will still be played October 3rd - 6th as originally scheduled. -------------------------------------------- Good! I was getting worried that we lost one match unnecessarily! Well done NZ Board!
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