India aim for turnaround in Tests against New Zealand
6 Feb 2014 6:49 AM IST
The Indians were blanked out 0-4 in the five-game ODI series resulting in the team losing its number one status in the ICC rankings. The visitors thereafter played a two-day warm-up game ahead of the Tests which ended in a draw and gave them mixed results as far as individual form of the players was concerned. MS Dhoni’s men now need at least a drawn series, if not an outright win, to retain their number two ranking in Test cricket.
Sadly, only Virat Kohli and skipper Dhoni have scored any runs recently. Rohit Sharma has failed to convert his starts into anything substantial, while Ajinkya Rahane has struggled to find his footing here. While the former has immense backing from the team management, the latter had a good showing in the African Tests to draw confidence from. As always though, India’s problems begin at the top of the order, wherein Shikhar Dhawan has looked ill at ease ever since he left home. While most batsmen alter their styles to suit different formats, Dhawan’s aggressive shot-making means that the ‘brand of cricket’ he plays stays the same across all formats. In that light, his 169 runs in 10 innings since December 2013 stand out. In Africa, where he was targeted by short bowling in both ODIs and Tests, he had scores of 13, 15, 29 and 19. That trend carried over to the ODIs here in New Zealand and will certainly flow over to the Tests as well.
There is some respite to be found in Vijay’s attitude at the other end, as he has looked to leave the ball a lot, waiting for the bad deliveries to score. If at all there is a problem herein, it is to do with his inability to rotate the strike in the middle of a good spell from the opposition, something that he can very well work on.
Even so, it leaves the run-scoring responsibility mainly to Kohli and Pujara, who will form the backbone of this batting line-up once again. Kohli’s runs in the preceding ODIs have already placed him on a high pedestal, and it is Pujara who is now the cynosure of all eyes in the build-up to this encounter.
Sadly, only Virat Kohli and skipper Dhoni have scored any runs recently. Rohit Sharma has failed to convert his starts into anything substantial, while Ajinkya Rahane has struggled to find his footing here. While the former has immense backing from the team management, the latter had a good showing in the African Tests to draw confidence from. As always though, India’s problems begin at the top of the order, wherein Shikhar Dhawan has looked ill at ease ever since he left home. While most batsmen alter their styles to suit different formats, Dhawan’s aggressive shot-making means that the ‘brand of cricket’ he plays stays the same across all formats. In that light, his 169 runs in 10 innings since December 2013 stand out. In Africa, where he was targeted by short bowling in both ODIs and Tests, he had scores of 13, 15, 29 and 19. That trend carried over to the ODIs here in New Zealand and will certainly flow over to the Tests as well.
There is some respite to be found in Vijay’s attitude at the other end, as he has looked to leave the ball a lot, waiting for the bad deliveries to score. If at all there is a problem herein, it is to do with his inability to rotate the strike in the middle of a good spell from the opposition, something that he can very well work on.
Even so, it leaves the run-scoring responsibility mainly to Kohli and Pujara, who will form the backbone of this batting line-up once again. Kohli’s runs in the preceding ODIs have already placed him on a high pedestal, and it is Pujara who is now the cynosure of all eyes in the build-up to this encounter.
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