India will aim for a clean sweep
The second Test between India and New Zealand in Bengaluru starts with India surely holding the advantage by a distance. If New Zealand have to compete and put up a better show than in Hyderabad, they will need to raise their game by many notches.
I am sure Ross Taylor and Company must have used the days in between the two matches to sort out their game on Indian soil and had many sessions amongst themselves to talk about what they had done in the first Test and what they will need to do in the second. I believe the talks will have centered mostly around playing the game with an uninhibited mind and also about handling the spin duo of Ojha and Ashwin. Winning the toss will be key for the Kiwis as that will take away from their mind thoughts of facing the Indian spinners in the fourth innings on the fourth or fifth day of the match. This is expected to be a different surface, lot of rain has fallen in Bengaluru for the last few days, especially in the evenings.
That will help in holding the surface better and New Zealand can expect less turn than it was in Hyderabad. But then with cricket pitches you never know till the first ball of the match has been bowled.
From India’s point of view there will be no changes in the XI from Hyderabad and Dhoni and his boys will be eager to make a clean sweep in the series. The top four batters will be surely hungry to cash in on the New Zealand bowling.
Sehwag, Gautam and Sachin haven’t got to a Test hundred for some time now, which is against their nature and class of batsmanship. So if any of them get through the early phases of their innings they will really make life difficult for the Kiwis.
Post new comment