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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:05:02:36:25 by Birbal.

India are better prepared this time around to overcome Wonder bras...but they still could be surprised early on...

One of the biggest mistake ever committed by any selection panel was leaving Srinath out of test series in the previous series.

With the margins of defeat on that tour so less, Srinath's selection could have surely tilted balance in our favour.

Srinath did a great job in the ODIs that followed and used to routinely clean up cairns.

Srinath REFUSED to play Tests... if you recall...

yeah srinath wanted to concentrate on world cup

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And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln

Well India have a much better new ball tandem this time around, to take advantage of wonderbras on offer....


I have a feeling that they will indeed be on the springy side the wickets.....

NZ have little chance otherwise in the series.....

Another reason, that the wickets could be wonder bras is that John Wright is part of NZCA now as selector and he might be a bit of an 'insider' with some knowledge of our top order.....

And he's thrown hints that NZ's best chance might be in producing such wickets....

Don't worry we have superman Dhoni...he will maul NZ 3-0

I hope they do prepare some similar tracks as last time..
We may not post huge scores but our bowlers with rip the Kiwi's to shreds on those pitches..

Anu_D I am sure Dhoni will do better than get beaten 0-2...

Quote:

Birbal
Anu_D I am sure Dhoni will do better than get beaten 0-2...

Failuers of the old generation aren't the benchmarks for leaders of today to aspire....
BUT to benchmark the leaders of today and aspire to better them.

Antyhing less than a test series win will confimr the label of medicocrity sticking on Dhoni

wonder bras or not this time team is in better mind and form so i'm hoping for better result than last time.
last time our batsman didn't delivered and this time it again depends on Batsman to set up match for out bowlers.

Anu_D label of mediocrity sticking to a Captain who has Test winning percentage of 80% and ODI winning percentage of 6)+%...?

Give me a BREAK!

Quote:

Birbal
Anu_D label of mediocrity sticking to a Captain who has Test winning percentage of 80%
Give me a BREAK!

Forget ODIs.....those are masala and figures in cricketing hisotry are not and will not be judged on ODIs.

Don Brad man remains the greatest batsman without having played an ODI.

Now in test matches....Azharuddin has probably a home record comparable to Dhoni over a MUCH larger sample.

Neither ODIs nor home wins are enough to shrug the tag of medicority

Only difference is that Azhar has a pathetic overseas record...while Dhoni has NO overseas record yet...

So let's not start those comparisons just yet...

Quote:

Birbal
Only difference is that Azhar has a pathetic overseas record...while Dhoni has NO overseas record yet...
So let's not start those comparisons just yet...

That's precisely my point...until he gets a good overseas record...he remains pathetic

NO... until he gets any overseas record...he remains good...

Where Ganguly has failed overseas, Dhoni cannot be judged based on past leaders.. nice concept..

Anu_D compares constantly to past leaders...and then says can't be compared to past leaders...

talk about your circular arguments



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:02:20:18:05:40 by Birbal.

Anyway, should get back to the OP... and the point is will NZ decide to roll the dice and make green, bouncy, bowling paradise wickets...or will they provide decent wickets this time?

On another forum, a Kiwi poster thinks that NZ's new ball attack is better than India's and thinks that tips the scales for his team... how delusional is he?

At the risk of being maimed here, can somebody point out SCG's "overseas" record in every country except Pak?(Leave BD & Zim).

I thought he didn't win a series abroad otherwise? Also can we put an asterisk since the Test win of 2004 in Australia came against an attack missing McWarne?

Birbal, I never seem to get the formats, etc right for articles. Can you please check your private messages...just sent you my login details.

On the topic, the Kiwis are certain to go in for seam friendly pitches. They know that is their only chance against this Indian team. Although this time the pitches won't be as bad as in 2002-03..hopefully.

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India's Test record against Australia over last 12 years:

Played 26, Won 10, Lost 10, Drawn 6

OK Max, will do...

Quote:

Meet_New_Mr_India
Where Ganguly has failed overseas, Dhoni cannot be judged based on past leaders.. nice concept..

Dhoni ( or any generation in future) will be expected to take the baton to the next level.

Ganguly took it to the next level relative to the generation before him.

Dhoni has to take it to the next level relative to Ganuly and not the generation before him i.e he has to achieve what Ganguly failed to.

Quote:

Dhoni has to take it to the next level relative to Ganuly and not the generation before him i.e he has to achieve what Ganguly failed to.

This most can agree on...

so if he wins 1-0 in NZ tests that would be perfectly acceptable..

Quote:

Meet_New_Mr_India
so if he wins 1-0 in NZ tests that would be perfectly acceptable..

Yes this time I will take it.

now that is a googly....

and anu is beaten yet again

Nice picture on this story

NZ has good bowlers.. Mills, O'brien and tim southee.. they all are good bowlers.. add gillspie to the mix and they have better 3rd bowler option than ours...

Quote:

Meet_New_Mr_India
NZ has good bowlers.. Mills, O'brien and tim southee.. they all are good bowlers.. add gillspie to the mix and they have better 3rd bowler option than ours...

FTBs make medicore bowling look good.
120 kph Balaji was picking up bundles of FTB victims, swinging it a bit.... at mild pace.

That we have a weak 3rd bowler is our fault....leavinng SS, Pathan, RPS, Gony, Pankaj and VRV back home

SS and RPS are injury risks... the rest are not better than Balaji and Praveen...

RPS is bowling fit and fine.

and Gony Pankaj and Pathan are not just a few inches but MILES ahead of Parrrveen and Balajii...Miles

RPS hardly turned up for UP this season(5 games at max including Central Zone, UP stints)....

Sreesanth played exactly 1 Ranji game & a couple of Duleep games.....

These two guys are very disappointing(especially Sreesanth for his attitude) in their fitness.....

The Chappies "miles ahead" of Balaji & Kulkarni did jack against the so called FTBs you're talking about....

And why do you're so quick to dismiss the top 2 domestic bowlers when the batters you plug, for example DK, are exactly going up against such stuff?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:02:22:05:22:26 by ananthd.

Quote:

FTBs make medicore bowling look good.
120 kph Balaji was picking up bundles of FTB victims, swinging it a bit.... at mild pace.

there we go with another useless, irrelavant post..

anathD,
if Ranji top bowlers were to be picked....Joginderr, JPY would have been India's opening bowlers for a long time.

You close your eyes and pick 120kph types purely on Ranji record.

If that's the way all selections were done, instead of Tendulkar...Vikram Rathore and Gagan Khoda should have been selected on the tour of Pakistan in 1989

anu_D, I'm not saying pick Balaji or Kulkarni for your international team....

I'm just saying guys like Pankaj, Gony have been able to do even less domestically with supposedly greater pace against the pathetic FTB batters of India....

It's unlikely that they do better than Balaji or Kulkarni against internationals just because they have greater pace.....

For the record, I think RPS & SS are #3 & #4 in the fast bowler totem pole....

I'm just not sure they should be anywhere near the team given their pathetic fitness record....

Quote:

ananthd
anu_D, I'm not saying pick Balaji or Kulkarni for your international team....
I'm just saying guys like Pankaj, Gony have been able to do even less domestically with supposedly greater pace against the pathetic FTB batters of India....

It's unlikely that they do better than Balaji or Kulkarni against internationals just because they have greater pace.....

Pathan, VRV, Gony, Pankaj are #s 5,6,7 on international test match taking potential....and Bose,Sangwan, Kulkarni and Balaji are 8,9,10 & 11 respectively

Guess New Zealand decided not to use Wonder Bras this time... and they fell turly FLAT...hahahahahaa

And peepeele in some neighbouring forums think BCCI has armtwisted NZ board so that there are no wonderbras ............

Well Wonder Bras or not...Veeru SLAUGHTERED the NZ bowling...

^ ^ Not only veeru, yuvraj,sachin,dhoni,gambhir as well......... Veeru's amazing form may long continue..
( atlast Veeru ki maa ki message is doing wonders...remember the advert..)

Yes this time they are ALL slaughtering the poor bowlers...but last time only Sehwag was up to the task...

From what I have been reading... seems NZ are considering resorting to Wonder Bras again... after being battered on good batting wickets in the ODIs...

Btw, anybody know how the Test "Specialists" have fared so far? I mean both the batsmen and the bowlers...i.e. Dravid, VVS, Balaji, etc...

Well Birbal, Dravid scored a ton in his practice match. VVS made 20 and 40 odd in two innings. Balaji took 3 for about 90 runs in 40 overs. Amit Mishra took 3 for 150 in 50 overs. Dhawal Kulkarni also played a match...will have to look up how he has done.

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_______________________

India's Test record against Australia over last 12 years:

Played 26, Won 10, Lost 10, Drawn 6

Thanks for the update max

Kulkarni took 3 for 81 in his match. And Murali Vijay also played the same match...top scored with 93 in the first innings. Pretty good performance by the two youngsters playing in NZ conditions for first time.

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_______________________

India's Test record against Australia over last 12 years:

Played 26, Won 10, Lost 10, Drawn 6

Murali Vijay looked very solid to me... I hope he gets to play more Tests very soon...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:16:06:04:06 by Birbal.

Quote:

Birbal
From what I have been reading... seems NZ are considering resorting to Wonder Bras again... after being battered on good batting wickets in the ODIs...

Where's that news come from? While there's been a bit more rain and it's been a bit cooler over the last couple of weeks, I don't expect that the pitches will change suddenly.

Way too late after the ODI series if it was to be deliberate anyway.

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Bring Back Bond.

It was from CI...but they are known to try and present India chances in the MOST NEGATIVE light...and try and BIG UP the chances of any team playing against India...

So I would take it with a large pinch of salt...but nonetheless the thought is out there...

wonderbras or not.. we are winning this series.. period

In the final ODI the pitch was seaming for the first half, but Dhoni decided to bat, something he admitted later was the wrong decision.

I think we may well see some difficult pitches for the Tests.

Rain or not, it's easy enough to water the pitch as NZ did in the last tour. They were saturating the pitch with water overnight using a sprinkler, something that was eventually picked up by one of the umpires.

Here are some reports from PTI on seaming/bouncing/grassy track expected for Test 1.

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Bouncy track awaits India in Test opener
16 Mar 2009, 1434 hrs IST, PTI

HAMILTON: 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.

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Ball will seam in the morning at Seddon Park: Curator
16 Mar 2009, 1423 hrs IST, PTI

HAMILTON: Seaming balls will keep the batsmen on their toes in the morning sessions during the first India-New Zealand Test starting on
Wednesday, pitch curator Karl Jackson said on Monday.

Jackson said the Seddon Park track would offer even bounce and remain consistent throughout the five days of the match and bowlers could look forward to some more assistance in overcast conditions.

"The first two hours will be interesting. That will assist movement. And if there is cloud cover, the ball will tend to seam any time of the day," said Jackson.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori had a close but long look at the wicket before having an animated chat with Jackson on the eve of the match.

When the media asked if Vettori had any particular concern, Jackson said, "He was generally inquiring about the Hamilton weather. Having played here before, he knows that moisture in the air would assist the ball to seam and swing."

Jackson said though there was some amount of grass on the wicket, it would be a sporting wicket.

Looks like they are taking pains to ensure it is NOT a Wonder Bra...that is good...

There will definitely be help for the pace bowlers on the first day. A good bowling performance tomorrow from either side will ensure they have a solid advantage for the rest of the match. Let's hope India are focused on the job from ball one.

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_______________________

India's Test record against Australia over last 12 years:

Played 26, Won 10, Lost 10, Drawn 6

Guess they lost focus after a dream start...eh Max?

Napier is definitely NOT a Wonder Bra wicket... it is instead quite possilby a Shirt Front...

A real shirt front... but still a better wicket than any seen in the previous tour by India...