There is little doubt that New Zealand will look back with
satisfaction on their just concluded tour of India. They
came here as underdogs. After all no New Zealand side had
won a Test series in India and only one out of six previous
touring sides had managed to level a rubber in this country.
If anything, their performances in one day internationals
in India was even worse. Given this background, the fact that
they held their own in two of the three Tests and lost only at
Kanpur when the wicket conditions were loaded against them,
speaks well of their resolve. And the fact that they carried
the five match one day contest into the decider before going
down is enough testimony of their skill and reputation in the
one day game.
I had analysed the Test series at the end of the three match
contest. Here I shall concentrate on the one day series. Given
the background of results between the two countries here,
India were favoured to win comfortably. This, despite the fact
that New Zealand were the World Cup semifinalists while
India had only just about made it to the super six stage.
First, in this country, India are always tough to beat.
Then, the home team also looked a pretty formidable side.
The batting was particularly strong and the bowling paled
only by comparison. New Zealand too were a good one day side
with a solid if unspectacular batting line up, a world class
all rounder in Chris Cairns and some honest trundlers.
And yet though India won the series by three matches to
two, New Zealand could pat themselves on the back for a
really creditable performance. Of course the fourth match
was won against an Indian attack shorn of Srinath, Venkatesh
Prasad and Kumble. But the fact that they forced the Indians
to press the panic button and recall Srinath for the decider
was a sort of moral victory for them. It must also not be
forgotten that they lost the third ODI at Gwalior by a
narrow margin and registered a meritorious victory in the
first game at Rajkot. Nathan Astle must have come close to
bagging the man of the series award. With scores of 120 and
97 in the first and third games, he was a front runner and
it was only a lapse of form in the last two matches and a
late surge by Saurav Ganguly that saw the Indian speed off
with the new car.
New Zealand were also handicapped by the loss of Dion Nash
who virtually did not play in the series, having been injured
in the first over of the Rajkot game. Drum, Tait and Styris
could not adequately fill the breach and under the
circumstances the pressure was a bit too much on Cairns
and Vettori. The New Zealand batting rose to the occasion
with some purple patches at Rajkot, Gwalior and Guwahati.
At Hyderabad and New Delhi however the visitors were
thoroughly outplayed. In retrospect, it was the manner in
which they squandered a victory chance at Gwalior that
ultimately saw New Zealand lose a series which they could
well have won.
From the Indian viewpoint, perhaps they too can look back
with some satisfaction at having scored a hard fought
victory over worthy opponents and in the process
providing some memorable moments for the spectators. Even
though the bowlers gave away too many runs at Rajkot, the
batsmen, led by Ajay Jadeja did not give in without a
fight. At Hyderabad, of course the regal batting of Sachin
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid provided some of the most memorable
moments in the history of Indian one day cricket. At
Gwalior, it was the turn of Saurav Ganguly to unleash an
unbridled onslaught on the bowling. And at New Delhi it was
again Ganguly who played a vital knock.
Indeed, if anything, the series again proved that the team
is rather overdependant on the terrific trio of Tendulkar,
Dravid and Ganguly. It was significant that when the three
failed at Rajkot and Guwahati, the Indians lost. Jadeja and
Robin came up with timely contributions at Rajkot and Gwalior
but it is not a healthy sign when a team depends so much on
three batsmen. But then this has been the case for some time
now. There was nothing very notable about the bowling and of
particular dismay was the manner in which the attack was
treated with the utmost disdain at Rajkot. Here too, the series
proved that too much hinges on Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and
Kumble. And when the trio did not play, the match at Guwahati
was lost. The silver lining however was the bowling of
debutant T Kumaran. The strong lad from Tamil Nadu showed
admirable control over line and length and his speed and
particularly the movement he obtained off the pitch was
quite disconcerting for the New Zealanders.