India vs. New Zealand – 1st Test Review

So was an Indian victory expected in the 1st Test? Certainly not from my side. Most of the times India loses its first test and tries to catch up in the remainder of the series. So that’s why I had predicted 2-1 to India. Now that India has won the 1st test, I have to change my prediction to 2-0 to India.

With due respects to New Zealand, I guess one of the reasons we won the 1st test is the Kiwis are a weaker team (and ranked a low 8th). Another main reason is that usually we start an away tour with the test series. But this time around we started off with 2 unimportant T-20s and 5 ODIs. India being slow starters stayed put with their record and lost both the T-20s which served them as a warning and they came up with uninhibited stroke play and won the one day series 3-1. This gave the team enough confidence and that showed up in the 1st test match. The win was a pure team effort and everybody contributed handsomely for the cause.

For New Zealand to match India or atleast come closer – they need to produce seaming tracks. The kiwis may need to change their bowling combination. Mills doesn’t seem to be a man in form. Vettori batted well as he has been doing over the past 2 years but his bowling is not going to cause alarms. Also, Vettori should flight the ball more and try to take wickets and not just look to contain. He may not be too confident in doing that but that’s his best chance of picking up wickets. They may also need to look at what Franklin has to offer while batting at 6 or coming in as a change bowler. Is he really good enough to bat at 6 ?

Historically India has a (bad) habit of picking up an opposition player and gifting him with runs and wickets in a series. In this one it clearly happens to be (my dark horse) Jesse Ryder.

However for India, the victory shouldn’t mask a few things that happened. As always there is a scope of improvement. Yuvraj needs to get some confidence in tests. His defence is very poor and its better off for him to play like One days…bat a bit aggressive at the same time don’t go overboard. Controlled aggression is the key. The other thing is why do we always fail to wrap up the tail quickly. New Zealand recovered from 60-6 in the 1st innings and in the second McCullum and O’Brien added 70+ for the 9th wicket. India should go for the kill and not let their guard down even if the tail is batting.

India should not settle for a 1-0 lead and try to play for a draw. That will sow seeds for problems. I didn’t like the way India declared against Pakistan (3rd Test in Bangalore, 2007) and against England (3rd Test at The Oval, 2007) – that’s very conservative. The typical Indian mind set should end. India should be ruthless.

This team is clearly erasing all the bad history. Lets us now see if we can win all the 3 tests and start creating (good) history. Under Dhoni, I would expect India to aim for that.