India will do fine in today's T20 game if the players stick to Dhoni's advice after their defeat in first game
India will do fine in today's T20 game if the players stick to Dhoni's advice after their defeat in first game
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That's because in Wellington they play at two stadiums. The old and the more traditional venue of Basin Reserve plays host to the Test matches. And winds become factor then because the ground is more exposed.
The odds and T20 internationals are played at the Westpac Stadium, which is a rugby ground. It is enclosed and the wind does not become a factor at all.
Basin Reserve is old fashioned and a ground dedicated to cricket. It has one main grand stand with grass embankments all over. Westpac Stadium is far more modern and noisy compared to Basin Reserve.
Wicket
I don't expect the wicket to be as good as the one at Christchurch which was a 180-190 pitch. The Westpac will not be as small as the AMI Stadium in Christchurch, but teams looking at 170 as a par score will do well.
One more drop-in pitch will be used at this venue because they will be playing a Super 14 rugby game the very next day. In any case 170 is a score you may win more than you lose in a T20 game.
A win in the second T20 game will not hand both teams any sort of momentum going forward in this series. I look at all three formats as separate series.u00a0 The result in the second T20 will not be relevant come the one-day series because India have just played fantastically in that form of the game in Sri Lanka. I expect India to dominate the one-day series.
Yes, New Zealand does seem to be having the nucleus of a good unit for the shorter forms of the game, but they have won just two of their last 12 T20 games. It is in the one-day game that they have moved to the fourth position in the rankings.
Key Kiwi players
New Zealand have lost one or two players in recent times. But what the Black Caps have are a few all-rounders. A wicketkeeper in Brendon McCullum who opens and gives them good starts, plus another strong performer with the bat in Ross Taylor.
Then you have the skipper Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram, when he is playing, along with newcomer Grant Elliott who has shown the right temperament.
New Zealand have built their success around the bowling of Vettori and Kyle Mills, who will come back in the one-dayers. Mills is currently ranked fourth in ODIs and gets his side off to a good start. Vettori then controls the middle part of the innings.
They are a very good fielding side, very energetic, efficient and rarely let their bowlers down. As competitive as they are as a one-day unit, they are yet to find their feet in the T20 format.
But these two T20 games are not the base around which both India and New Zealand should look to begin their campaign for the World Championship in England.
I agree with Dhoni when he says IPL is a good starting time for testing players. These two T20 games are a good warm-up time for the Indian team as they get acclimatised to conditions in New Zealand. They haven't been here since 2003.
Rusty
The Indian team has hardly played T20 cricket since last year's IPL. So it's time to dust off and get quickly into the mode for the rest of the tour.
IPL is the right place to start the plan for defending the title that India won in 2007.u00a0 I think India will be clear favourites with the kind of team they have in such a new format.
India have some of the best strikers in the game. Just ignore the first game, they will have a structure around their next innings. Keep in mind what Dhoni said after the first game. He knows what his team needs to do in this format, that is to go out there with a clear mind and play the ball on merit as much as possible.
A competitive scenario like the IPL will provide the best testing ground for Dhoni to take a team to England full of confidence.
Come May-June and I see India as being very strong favourites to defend their title.
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