After his recent trip to Kiwiland, BCCI official and former Test player Suru Nayak has some good news for Dhoni's Indians: better pitches, good facilities and huge interest among locals
After his recent trip to Kiwiland, BCCI official and former Test player Suru Nayak has some good news for Dhoni's Indians: better pitches, good facilities and huge interest among locals
There is a lot of suspense over what to expect in terms of conditions in New Zealand. Given how different the conditions are from the sub-continent, the interest is naturally more. On the last tour there in 2002-03, India were done in more by the conditions than by the skills of the Kiwi players.
As the Indian team landed in New Zealand yesterday, there is a lot of speculation about whether the wickets will be green like the last time or flatter like in the recent series against West Indies.
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As part of his job, he was in New Zealand as recently as last week for a routine inspection of all venues and facilities available during the tour.
The feedback he got from the various curators should calm the nerves of the Indian players and supporters.
"The curators told me that the nature of wickets have changed. They are also wary of our pace attack. So, it doesn't look like they would give us green wickets. I am not sure about the drop-in pitches though," Nayak, who was in New Zealand from February 9 to February 13, told MiD DAY.
From his first impression of the venues, it looks like if the wickets are good for batting and one can expect a torrent of boundary hits as some of the grounds are smaller. Nayak, the former India and Mumbai all-rounder said: "Basin Reserve in Wellington, McLean Park in Napier are all lovely venues but some of the grounds are small.
Hamilton has a comparatively shorter boundary. Most of the grounds are also used for rugby and have drop-in pitches.
Both the T20 games are on grounds (AMI Stadium in Christchurch and Westpac Stadium in Wellington) which are used for rugby also," said Nayak. Getting acclimatised to the climate there is also not easy, especially when it gets chilly. At the moment it is warm which means it should be to the liking of the India's Twenty20 and one-day players. "It is summer time now and it was humid.
"Napier was especially humid, but it was raining all the time in Christchurch," said Nayak.
Watch out
But, the Test players will have to be ready to face some icy winds as it will start getting cold by the time the Test matches start.
"I was told, it will start getting colder from the second week of March as summer will be coming to an end and autumn will set in," said Nayak. India's last one-dayer is scheduled for March 14 and the first Test begins on March 18 at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
Australia and England are usually considered the big series in New Zealand, but things are changing now.
It is believed that with so many of their national players plying their trade in India in the two Twenty20 leagues, Indian Cricket League and the Indian Premier League, there is greater interest in the India series this time. Nayak observed the change during his visit.
Impetus
"New Zealand Cricket's cricket operations manager told me that this series will give a lot of impetus for NZ cricket.
Also, there is more interest in this series since we have done well against Australia and because of the personalities in our team like Mahendra Singh Dhoni," revealed Nayak.
"There are a lot of Indians there too. I visited a lot of Asian restaurants and the people said they were very keen on hosting the Indian team."
As for his own prediction for the series, Nayak who played two Tests and four ODIs for India, said: "We have a different set of players (from the last tour) and our attack is also much better. Their team is in a rebuilding stage. But, never underestimate the Kiwis at home, they would be very competitive."
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