India to
take on New Zealand on their home turf with five matches ODI series to start
with on Sunday 19th Jan (morning for Indian viewers). Though as per
ICC rankings hosts are way down at number 8 against no. 1 India, to expect
India to run over can be a misleading. With the weather conditions similar to
England, windy strong breeze, odd shaped grounds and slow outfield, these are
few of things visiting teams always find difficult to overcome. It`s a little
less toured destination for Team India. Out of 30 India has 10 wins against
NZ`s 19.Only before last World Cup, India managed to clinch series victory,
under MS Dhoni 3-1 in 2008-2009. Apart from MS only two regular batsmen –
Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma have played international cricket in New Zealand.
However India stands a good chance of winning consecutive series there,
considering hosts - NZ `s – ordinary record in recent times. Post 2011, out of
19 ODIs New Zealand have lost 10 and won 8, that too with 3 wins against lesser
Zimbabwe. This ordinary home record is primarily due to inconsistent batting by
New Zealanders.
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| Brendon McCullum`s innovative stroke play |
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| Mahendra Singh Dhoni |
For Indian
bowlers’ very demanding and new conditions, Dhoni is expecting wind and pitch
help the fast bowlers at Napier on Sunday. As always, India expecting to depend
heavily on their fast emerging new formidable, fearless batting line up. The
most important factor for this tour from India`s point of view is, good
exposure ahead of the 2015 World Cup. India is scheduled to play two group
games in Auckland and Hamilton, while New Zealand will also host a
quarter-final and a semi-final. Lot of youngsters would like to take this
opportunity to cement their places in the team for the World Cup. The no. 4
batting spot is wide open due to absence of dropped Yuvaraj Singh. Competition
would be amongst Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh
Raina and even be Ambati Rayudu. Newcomer Stuart Binny is likely to get a chance to play
as an all-rounder. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, is already thinking of
playing four quicks. Adam Milne could be New
Zealand's main weapon against India, along
with Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim
Southee or Mitchell McClenaghan. Corey Anderson would be batting attraction, known for
his powerful striking, took it to a new level on New Year's Day 2014 when he
broke the world record for the fastest ODI hundred with a 36-ball blitzkrieg
against West Indies at Queenstown. Brendon McCullum is in no mood to give India a friendly and
soft welcome, where as MS Dhoni feels India are ready as they
have had a few days to prepare. So let`s see if India can wipe out memories of
recent losses in South Africa and continues to be number one in ICC ODI
rankings.
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