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| December 24, 2002 | Tuesday | Shawwal 19, 1423 |
Battered India hope for batting pitches in one-day matches
HAMILTON (New Zealand), Dec 23: India, with their batting pride badly battered and bruised in a recent Test series against New Zealand, hope the pitches do not dictate terms in the upcoming one-dayers against the hosts.
“I just hope we have very good batting wickets for one-dayers,” Indian coach John Wright said before the team’s departure for Auckland for Thursday’s opening one-dayer.
India, who lost the two-Test series 2-0 here on Sunday, will play seven one-dayers hoping to salvage their reputation with a vastly-improved batting performance in the shorter version of the game.
Their batting was so brittle in Tests on seamer-friendly tracks that they failed to cross the 200-mark in four innings despite having quality players in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and skipper Saurav Ganguly.
Batting genius Tendulkar and reliable Dravid both have scored more than 1,000 Test runs this year, but neither could do justice to his stature against the New Zealand pace attack on seaming wickets.
The tourists lost the opening Test at Wellington by 10 wickets and the second here by four — both inside three days — as India were blanked for the first time in a Test series under Ganguly’s captaincy.
Only Dravid and Tendulkar managed to compile half-centuries in two Tests as India scored 161, 121, 99 and 154 in their four innings in one of their most disappointing batting shows in recent years.
“You haven’t seen the best of our batsmen,” said Wright whose side has been strengthened with the arrival of fast bowler Javagal Srinath, leg-spinner Anil Kumble and all-rounder Yuvraj Singh for the one-day seires.
“Their style and attacking brand of cricket have yet to be seen on the tour. I hope the New Zealand public gets the opportunity to see that in seven one-dayers,” he said.
The Indian coach said it was essential for both India and New Zealand to play on good pitches here in their last one-day series before the World Cup, starting in South Africa next February.
The local press criticised the quality of Test pitches, especially the one at the Westpac Park here where 22 wickets fell on Saturday in a sensational day of Test cricket.
Meanwhile, Indian selectors on Monday included pacemen Ashish Nehra and Rakesh Patel in the one-day squad.
The selectors had initially named 14 players for the series, keeping their options open for the remaining two slots until after the just-concluded Test series.
Nehra is already in New Zealand as a member of the Test team, while uncapped Patel will join the team at a later date.
Patel, a 24-year-old, plays for Baroda in domestic competitions.
The five-member selection committee comprising Brijesh Patel, Kirti Azad, Kiran More, Pranab Roy and Sanjay Jagdale decided on the two names after a teleconference on Sunday.
Squad: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Sanjay Bangar, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Vangipurappu Laxman, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra, Rakesh Patel.—AFP
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