da marjack bet： Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Daniel Vettori believe a major part of the upcoming tour will come down to the conditions, alien to most of the travelling Indian team
da brwin： Sidharth Monga in Christchurch24-Feb-2009
Daniel Vettori reckons India’s opening pair will be a huge threat © AFP
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Daniel Vettori believe a major part of the upcoming tour will come down to the conditions, which is alien to most of the Indian team. Vettori said that though the pitches had improved a lot, the weather could play a part in deciding many of the games.”India have come with a formidable reputation, and they’ve earned it over the last couple of years with the way they’ve played cricket,” Vettori said. “But I suppose we enjoy playing at home, we feel a lot more comfortable here and we’ve got a pretty good record. Hopefully those things play in our favour, but we also understand this is one of our biggest challenges.”I think it comes back to our conditions, and hopefully we know those and we can perform in them. I think the wickets are going to be very good, the weather may play a small part in it, but the ability to contain the Indian top order, with the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in it, is probably going to be crucial to our success.”India have been trying to make the best of whatever time they have got to train here in their first week in New Zealand. “Usually we practise for two to two-and-half hours. Since we had four days here we wanted to make the most out of it,” Dhoni said. “Especially when we are practising outdoors, maybe the next day it may rain and we won’t get the same facilities so we were practising for three-and-a-half to four hours.”Dhoni said while New Zealand were a young side, their team work meantthey could never be written off. “New Zealand is known for the kind ofcricket they play as a team. They don’t really depend on one individual.That’s what is good about us too. We have the kind of players who canreally make you win games on their own, but we are always looking for thewhole team to perform.”Vettori was happy to play with a young side which hasjust started winning. “There are a lot of guys who have played under 10games, but a lot of those were won,” Vettori said. “So when you have thatfeeling within the team coupled with some experienced players, it makesfor confidence about their performances. We’re hoping to continue on that,the likes of Martin Guptills and Neil Brooms being fantastic in the shorttime they’ve been there. We’re hoping they can capitalise on what they’vedone in a short period of time.”But the youngsters are pitted against a star-studded Indian line-up andVettori is particularly worried about Sehwag and Gambhir, his DelhiDaredevil team-mates. “A lot of our emphasis is on Sehwag, and probablyGambhir, with their opening partnership,” Vettori said. “If we can put somepressure on India early then maybe it gives us a chance, but when theseguys get away, it’s always hard to pull back in.”We are not underestimating how good a player and how destructive he[Yuvraj Singh] can be. We’re just hoping we get to him early by ourplans for Gambhir and Sehwag because if we can do that, hopefully he’smore vulnerable than when he comes in with a bit of platform.”
