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India's tour of New Zealand 2013-14 |
After a dismal South African tour, Indian Cricket is now
heading to another country in Southern Hemisphere, that is, New Zealand. Last
time India toured New Zealand was in the year 2009, according to cricketing
calendar 2008-09. That was a special series for India as they won both the ODI
series as well as Test series 3-1 and 1-0 respectively. That series was mainly
dominated by the two famous Delhi boys namely Virender Sehwag and Gautam
Gambhir. Sehwag scored the then fastest ODI century for India and Gambhir
single handed saved India from an innings defeat. In this tour both of them are
not selected. This tour may not be as competitive as the South African tour
was, but you can never say never in cricket and especially for Indian Cricket.
Despite losing the both ODI and Test series in South Africa, India is still the
favourites heading into the series. The main reason for it is the ranking
factor; India is the no.1 and no.2 in ODIs and Tests respectively whereas the
Kiwis are standing at the 8th position in both the formats. A series
defeat for India would certainly be treated as a huge upset. New Zealand tour
in the past had always been competitive because the level of cricket they play
at. The most worrying factor for India is for sure the bowling and the ability
to cope with the short deliveries.
In South Africa only 3 batsmen stood out; Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and
Ajinkya Rahane. Others very not bad but they were not good as well. The century
knocks by Kohli and Pujara showed that they are not flat track bullies and the
resistant shown by Rahane proved that he is not a player to be kept on bench.
Meanwhile this tour will be a test for Rohit Sharma’s ability of playing in conditions
outside subcontinent; he was not at his best in Africa. Same can be said for
Shikhar Dhawan as well. The problem with Dhawan was that he got out either on a
loose shot or a loose ball. Suresh Raina and Murli Vijay also showed some
resistant in ODI and Tests respectively and can handle short and moving balls
to some extent. Captain cool for sure was not at his best. We have to remember
that New Zealand is a place where batsmen can score either ample amount of runs
or can give away their wicket cheaply. Last time we toured New Zealand it was a
batting paradise with Sehwag scoring the then fastest century, Tendulkar almost
got to the double century in ODI and Gambhir played the innings of his life.
Now the conditions are not the same, Kiwis coach has demanded for green pitches
and with coming of green tracks bowlers play an important part.
Speaking of bowlers apart from Shami, Jadeja and Zaheer (albeit his second
innings in Durban was not the best) showed that bowling in India is not a lost
art. Ishant Sharma too had a great start but as usual he didn’t convert his
starts into magical spells. Ashwin and Bhuneshwar were not at their best.
Jadeja proved that it’s all about the basics in bowling, that is, stump to
stump bowling instead of trying too much of variations. With the coming of
Ishwar Pandey, it will be tough for Dhoni to decide on which bowlers he will
keep in his playing XI.
In this tour, India has everything to lose as both the no.1 and no.2 positions
are in danger, that is, a series loss would move them down. On the other hand,
New Zealand has nothing to lose and everything to gain. In the battles of two
wicketkeepers, MS Dhoni has an edge over the Kiwis. With the back stacked
against the walls, India will prove why they are the world number 1 and 2. Hope
for the series to 3-1 or 3-2 in ODI and 1-0 or 0-0 in tests in the favour of
India.