A close contest is in the offing

New Zealand are a tough team to beat at home.

No one is more aware of this simple fact than the Indians.

In January 1976, India defeated New Zealand by eight wickets at Auckland.

Since then, Indian teams have played 13 Tests in the country without winning even one. Six have been lost and seven drawn.

Over the last 33 years, Indian teams have won a Test series in England, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides beating Zimbabwe and Bangladesh black and blue. They have won a Test match in South Africa and shared a series in Australia three times.

So why has it been so hard for Indian teams to do well in New Zealand a country where they notched up their first win abroad on their way to their maiden series triumph 41 years ago? Clearly, the seaming, swinging and swirling conditions have been the main problem for Indian batsmen.

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The nadir was reached during the last tour six years ago when in the two Tests the totals made for sorry reading - 161, 121, 99 and 154.

Sachin Tendulkar averaged 25, Virender Sehwag 10, Sourav Ganguly 7.25 and VVS Laxman 6.75 (including a pair).

Rahul Dravid topped the averages with 32.75 and the Indians notched up just two half centuries. Needless to say, the New Zealand seam trio of Daryl Tuffey, Jacob Oram and Shane Bond had a ball.

In fact, a look at the previous series’ clearly underlines the fact that the Kiwi bowlers headed by the peerless Richard Hadlee have always had the edge over the Indian bowlers who have also relished the bowler-friendly conditions.

Even a cursory glance at the results will clearly show that from Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath in the seventies to Kapil Dev in the eighties and to Manoj Prabhakar, Atul Wassan, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad in the nineties, it is seam bowling that has held out the best hope for the Indians to combat the home team.

Except on the first two tours when Erapalli Prasanna, Bapu Nadkarni, Bishen Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar picked up wickets when the pitches were on the slow side, it has been the pacemen who have been the chief wicket-takers.

Even in the last series, Zaheer Khan picked up five-wicket hauls in both Tests but he had little support.

Under the circumstances, it is good to see the selectors pack the side with a quintet of pace bowlers this time around.

Zaheer Khan remains the spearhead of the attack and he is at the peak of his powers right now.

With Ishant Sharma sharing the new ball, he is assured of able support.

Srinath who knows a thing or two about conditions in Kiwiland recently spoke about the importance of a third seamer. Definitely, the performances of Dhawal Kulkarni, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Munaf Patel — whoever is selected - will be crucial as the back-up to the established duo of Zaheer and Ishant.

That is not to say that Harbhajan Singh will have no role to play.

The competitive sardar will be the front-line spinner in the playing eleven.

Six years ago, in the same role, he did a commendable job despite limited opportunities. For that matter, he along with Anil Kumble performed admirably even on the 1998-99 tour. One suspects opportunities again will be rather limited this time too but Harbhajan can be counted upon to make the most of them.

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Ultimately, however, the batsmen could well hold the key to an improved Indian showing.

The line-up is lustrous and high on skill, class and experience. Almost all of them have been among the runs and it is time they live up to their exalted status. How they combat the New Zealand pace attack and the highly reputed left-arm spinners of Daniel Vettori could well decide which way the Test series ends.

As far as the limited-overs games are concerned, the Indians have generally been at the receiving end in New Zealand as symbolised by the 5-2 defeat they suffered on the last tour.

The fact that the Indian team has been on a roll over the last year augurs well for them but the Kiwis too have been doing well of late. The present rankings - India are No 3 and New Zealand No 4 - illustrates that a close contest is in the offing.