India tour of New Zealand - Jan to Feb 2014

[scratch978]

India will kick off their New Zealand tour in January with an ODI in Napier.
Though Indian team look strong on papers, we must not forget that it's New Zealand's home and the majority of Indian players will be there for the first time..

Fixtures:-


Sun Jan 19
14:00 local | 01:00 GMT 1st ODI - New Zealand vs India
McLean Park, Napier

Wed Jan 22
14:00 local | 01:00 GMT 2nd ODI - New Zealand vs India
Seddon Park, Hamilton

Sat Jan 25
14:00 local | 01:00 GMT 3rd ODI - New Zealand vs India
Eden Park, Auckland

Tue Jan 28
14:00 local | 01:00 GMT 4th ODI - New Zealand vs India
Seddon Park, Hamilton

Fri Jan 31
14:00 local | 01:00 GMT 5th ODI - New Zealand vs India
Basin Reserve, Wellington

Thu Feb 6 - Mon Feb 10
11:00 local | 22:00 GMT 1st Test - New Zealand vs India
Eden Park, Auckland

Fri Feb 14 - Tue Feb 18
11:00 local | 22:00 GMT 2nd Test - New Zealand vs India
Basin Reserve, Wellington

Source :-India in New Zealand 2013-14 : Napier to host India-tour opener | Cricket News | New Zealand v India | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[War]

Unlike the talented but horribly inconsistent Pakistan & Windies teams (windies more at the moment) - the Kiwis seem to have some sanity & serenity about their team at the moment.

Ryder is back & likely too will Vettori for this series, so obviously their potential improvement will be better assessed after they come up against India.

 

[War]

India in New Zealand 2013-14 : Hesson calls for green pitches for India Tests | Cricket News | New Zealand v India | ESPN Cricinfo

I recall that 2002 IND tour to NZ, one of the few times Shane Bond was fully fit for test series vs a top class batting line-up. On some seaming tracks he bowled superbly.

As NZ coach rightfully said here - their home pitches should certainly be greentops similar to the 2002 series if they want to win.

 

[scratch978]

As NZ coach rightfully said here - their home pitches should certainly be greentops similar to the 2002 series if they want to win.

Greentops pitches will really test Indian batsmen..

 

[SaiSrini]

Well, India have the bowling attack now to make teams think twice before preparing greentops. With the comeback of Zaheer and now with the emergence of Shami and Yadav as genuine speedsters, India have the bowling attack to make merry on a greentop.

And I don't think NZ have the batting might of an Australia or South Africa or an England to survive the Indian bowlers on a greentop. So they would be better served by making sporting pitches with pace and bounce in it. Well even that would help India and its bowlers, but a greentop won't help anyone.

 

[War]

Greentops of seamer friendly wickets is the best way to keep Boult/Southee effective, because i still reckon on flat surfaces they still have work to do & in such conditions they might struggle to contain India.

Of course IND quicks can equally cause NZ batsmen problem, even one with Ryder back. But realistically if NZ want to win, they basically have to keep IND batsmen quiet & back their batsmen to handle the home conditions better.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

preparing green tops is risky against india, it was why south africa failed to beat them in their last tour. india's weakness is their bowlers and their strength is their batsmen. if you give them a surface which turns their bowlers in to serious weapons india's experience at batting will end up dominating the match. people seem to forget on the disasterous tour of england that india wiped england's top order out and survived much better in the first 2 tests (can't remember the exact figures but england were twice down 6 wickets for less than a 100), it was when they couldn't find reverse or spin that england built massive scores with their tail, which is notably long with prior, broad and swann. NZ do not have a tail in this league.

swing isn't a particularly big weakness for indians, no more than other nations anyway, the ball swings hoops in asia and reverse is easy to find so all their players are experienced against it. it's short bowling that they traditionally don't like and on a seaming pitch you need to bowl full.

a greentop asks the question "who has the better batsmen." and india do. a fairer surface asks the seam attack to find ways of getting people out and NZ are probably slightly more equipped to do this than india.

 

[SaiSrini]

India seem to struggle when our bowlers don't have enough help from the wicket. In the recently concluded test vs SA in Jo'burg, India looked menacing when they got purchase from the wicket on the first 3 days. When the wicket became a belter, India struggled even though they had to defend 450+.

India batsmen can bat well when the pitch is good for batting, but to win a test, we need 20 wkts and so it would make sense for NZ to prepare wickets good for batting because it will also give their batting lineup a chance to score lot of runs against India.

 

[Aalay]

I am actually very excited for this series. With Southee and Boult being in a such a good form for New Zealand, they will test this Indian batting. If we are looking at playing the same lineup that we did against South Africa in the first test, only Dhoni, Zaheer and Ishant has played before in New Zealand. None of our top order batsmen has played in New Zealand before so it will be a challenge for them. If Ryder and Vettori comes back in this test side, it will make them even stronger and provide them with the experience.

 

[scratch978]

Anyway,
Indian team will earn a lot of experience in these pitches by 2015 world cup.

 

[greymatter776]

It would be a good series to watch.Indians would be happy facing New Zealand .The seamers will be very happy if greentop pitches es are made.

 

[ferg512]

I would be very surprised if there are any greentops despite Hessons orders. Even Simon Doull said on a radio show a week or so ago there won't be any greentops because of the risk of losing money. This tour is all about making money for NZC which is disappointing, and the results are not of great importance to them. We need to do all we can to keep India happy like the last tour in 2009.

 

[War]

^^

Really?. That would be quite scandalous if that occurred. BCCI again & the fraudulent dynamics of work cricket

 

[surendar]

I guess we clearly dominated the host when we visited last time? in both ODIs and Tests? I can recollect that magnificent 160+ ODI knock of Sachin where he had his first chance of getting a double ton though he unfortunately got retired hurt.

I don't see any threatening pacers like Bond, so I would assume it is going to be a tough ask for Kiwis to defend India @ their den. Good luck though. Strength of the team India, on papers & on field, is relatively stronger compared to Kiwis. We might have bowling weakness, but at the same time neither Kiwis have the power impacting strike bowlers. They do have potential bowlers, but not with the threaten to cause impact like how they used to be some decade ago.

 

[scratch978]

Simon Doull said on a radio show a week or so ago there won't be any greentops because of the risk of losing money. This tour is all about making money for NZC which is disappointing

Really?. That would be quite scandalous if that occurred. BCCI again & the fraudulent dynamics of work cricket

If that's true, then it is not a good news for India as the new team would like to gain experience on green top before coming back here for the world cup.

Also, if BCCI can influence with money, then why will it not do that scandalous work in the World Cup instead of doing in this series ?