Bouncy track awaits India in Test series opener

Joseph Hoover

Hamilton, Mar 16 (PTI) A bouncy track with a good
sprinkling of grass awaits India in the first Test of the
three-match cricket series against New Zealand starting here
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. PTI JH
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