We are excited to be in Hyderabad and be the first side to feature in a Test at this magnificent facility, the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
It is really exciting for our young bunch to be given this opportunity of playing at another beautiful ground here in Hyderabad like the one at Ahmedabad. I think we are really lucky and it is really one of the nicest places to play cricket.
I think it feels great to turning up at these great Test venues. I think it will be a different pitch. But the batsmen will continue to enjoy the conditions. However I feel the pitch might deteriorate as the match progresses to help the spinners and hopefully even the fast bowlers.
We came to Hyderabad on the back of the guys feeling really good about our show in Ahmedabad. We are pleased with our display. Ryder and Williamson were obviously the stars of our performance after McCullum and Taylor had put us in a good position. But we are aware of the challenge that confronts us in the form of this strong Indian team who will only get better in the second Test match on a better wicket.
After the first Test ended we talked about how pleased we were with our performance. We tried to win the first Test but could not nail it. We need to find improvement and hopefully will continue to do so. Our thinking obviously revolves around a big first innings especially after how our four guys batted.
The bowling stood up to the test despite facing stiff odds with injury to Hamish Bennett and Ryder. We bowled with good plans. Sehwag obviously was the man who led the Indian charge. We bowled in the right spot apart from the time we bowled to Sehwag. The key was to create enough opportunities and bowl with discipline.
Chris Martin then followed it up with a fine spell. We need to keep maintaining this discipline and that will hopefully create more chances for us in Hyderabad. One of the challenges of being on an away tour is to maintain a full complement of players. We need to manage to keep the players fit and healthy so that everyone comes into the equation.
The team morale is high despite the reverses in Bangladesh. One reason for is that there has been a change in personnel. The bigger reason is a change in format with the Test matches being a different ball game. The new players who have come in have no baggage of the losses in Bangladesh and are able to bring in a fresh perspective to the contests.
Unlike previous tours, this time around we are accustomed to playing spin. Almost all teams have one decent spinner and so we are used to playing these quality bowlers.