| Player: | MS Dhoni |
| Event: | India in New Zealand 2008/09 |
The Indians, in the two Tests thus far, have played in conditions found more readily at home than in the alien, sinister New Zealand conditions that haunted them on their last tour. While it has been sunny and warm weather except for the occasional rains in the ODIs the Indians have had no problems adjusting to the weather and the actual playing conditions have been even more hospitable. Hamilton had a touch of movement off the seam, while Napier had bounce. But neither pitch, contrary to the speculation in the days leading up to the Test, was damp or green. Indeed on match day, they resembled surfaces like those in the subcontinent.
Perhaps its because New Zealand is in the final stage of its domestic season the strips have had much traffic, and are tired as a result; perhaps the presence of a new-ball pair as skilled and threatening as Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma is prohibitory: whatever the reason, its puzzling that while New Zealand has banged on about wanting more sideways movement at pace from the strip. The fact that there has been little swing, either conventional or reverse, has made it more difficult for the quicker bowlers.
The Basin Reserve, which will host the crucial third and final Test from Friday, appears to offer much of the same, although the city of Wellington promises something different. The pitch was brown on Wednesday, the grass on it neither fresh nor live, but the day was chillingly cold, particularly when the southerly wind picked up to speeds of nearly 30 knots.
India, which nurses a 1-0 lead going into the third Test, appeared happy with the surface, coach Gary Kirsten saying it seemed a good cricket wicket with bounce. One of the several things this Indian side has done remarkably well in the recent past is not bother overly with the conditions. M.S. Dhoni is expected to recover from the back spasms that kept him out of the second Test. His men have the opportunity to create history by becoming the first Indian side since M.A.K. Pataudis, in 1967-68, to clinch a Test series.
The teams (from) :
New Zealand : Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Iain OBrien, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Tim Southee, and Jamie How.
India : M.S. Dhoni (Capt.), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra, Lakshmipathy Balaji, M. Vijay, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Dinesh Karthik.
Umpires : Simon Taufel and Daryl Harper
Third umpire : Tony Hill
Match referee : Alan Hurst.