India v New Zealand / News
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India v New Zealand, 4th ODI, Bangalore
New Zealand need to kick the losing habit
The Preview by Sidharth Monga
December 6, 2010
Match Facts
Tuesday, December 7Start time 14.30 (0900 GMT)
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Related Links
News : Gambhir wary of tinkering with winning combination
News : Vettori asks for clear minds to break jinx Matches:
India v New Zealand at Bangalore
Series/Tournaments:
New Zealand tour of India [Nov 2010]
Teams:
India
| New Zealand
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The Big Picture
August 10, 2010. The day New Zealand last won an international match. As much as winning, losing is a habit too, and New Zealand desperately need to get out of that rut. Dead rubber? Not for them.What is worse than having lost the series in the first three matches is that they have never looked like winning any of the games. The only positive is, they know why they are not winning, and where they need to improve. Their bowlers haven't looked like getting past the Delhi duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, who have scored 534 runs off 518 balls between them in three ODIs. The batsmen have been directionless: openers fail, middle order goes nowhere, and Scott Styris is left with too much to do. It hasn't helped that they have been without their regular opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder.
Somehow, though, New Zealand need to find a way to get that winning feeling back against an India side that, on current form and confidence, will be backing itself to go unbeaten through the home season of 2010-11. It will be interesting if New Zealand can get Gambhir and Kohli out cheaply, and test the largely untroubled middle order so far. Daniel Vettori will tell his bowlers that's not asking for a lot.
Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)India: WWWWL
New Zealand: LLLLL
Watch out for...
Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson Williamson, batting at No.3, has aggregated 75 runs off 147 deliveries, getting off to a slow start each time, and with not too many big hits to count on, has put the rest of the batting under pressure every time. Surely Taylor, who has succumbed to the resultant pressure twice, has to move up to No.3 and take responsibility for the batting?M Vijay has twice been the silent partner in opening stands with Gambhir, and has somehow failed to find the fluency he has in Tests and Twenty20s. A career strike-rate of 65 doesn't quite do justice to the way he can play. He will want to make the mental adjustment, and get past his personal best of 33.
Teams
New Zealand's fitness problems haven't made their job any easy. However, they will be hoping that Brendon McCullum can keep wicket, allowing them to add an extra batsman or an extra bowler to the XI.New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Scott Styris, 6 James Franklin, 7 Daniel Vettori (capt), 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Tim Southee/Grant Elliott/Gareth Hopkins, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Andy McKay
It was strange to see India replace Suresh Raina with Ravindra Jadeja - who has almost always been used as a specialist bowler by MS Dhoni - in the third ODI. Ideally, one out of Saurabh Tiwary and Rohit Sharma should get that slot. With Wriddhiman Saha having already left for South Africa so he can acclimatise himself to the conditions ahead of India's tour there, Parthiv Patel is all set to play his first international in two years and four months.
India (probable): 1 M Vijay, 2 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Saurabh Tiwary/Rohit Sharma, 7 Parthiv Patel (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9, 10 and 11 three out of Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel
Stats and trivia
- New Zealand have faced 502 dot balls to India's 417, which sums up New Zealand's approach - or lack of it - in the middle overs.
- Virat Kohli has now scored 50 or more in four consecutive innings. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are the only Indians who have managed more - five. The overall record, a whopping nine, belongs to one of the finest one-day batsmen ever, Javed Miandad.
Quotes
"I've got to ask Ross Taylor [about the wicket] as he knows a lot more than I do. It has got a lot more grass on it and is probably not damp but a little sticky."Daniel Vettori looks to use Taylor's experience of playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore
"I may just ensure that Yusuf gets to bat with the top-order so he can play enough deliveries and use his destructive batting to good effect."
Gautam Gambhir hints at a change in India's batting order
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at Cricinfo
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Oh...some guys ask about vijay...it is not luck that he performs well in T20's & Test He has been just strugling little bit with his form..surely.. he will regain his form in ODI's as like Gambhir did.. vijay is better player and opener than uthappa...
Posted by aradhya1982 on (December 07 2010, 08:24 AM GMT)hello Begnaluru...Get ready for the 4th Match between Ind v\s NZ.
Posted by aradhya1982 on (December 07 2010, 08:17 AM GMT)Hello All.. This is Aradhya from bangalore ...Now a days india is in very good form..Best of luck for INDIAN team.
Posted by sweetspot on (December 07 2010, 08:17 AM GMT)NZ have nothing to lose. I hope they play some adventurous cricket. This series is the perfect experimental run up for India now, and NZ should take some heart and take advantage. Come on Kiwis! Remember that India have never beaten you in a T20 game. Surely, there is some inspiration there!!
Posted by sweetspot on (December 07 2010, 08:15 AM GMT)Vijay is far too talented and technically sound to be shunted out. In all fairness, his role in the partnerships with Gambhir may not be big, but you cannot ignore one batsman in ANY century partnership. He's played his sheet anchor role well enough. He is not in a hurry to get any runs because Gambhir is attacking at the other end. It may be a team strategy to get BIG opening partnerships with minimum risk. I don't have a problem with 115/1 if the team strike rate is nearly 100. It's a lot better than 35/1 and then 55/2 trying to get the team strike rate up to 110.
Posted byGG is back to form is just grt, but what about entertainment? Kohli's has just that aggressive pull shot which is thrill to watch... Moving Yousuf up the ladder to open might be the better option, bengaluru crowd loves roaring sixes..will have to wait and see if there's going to be some today!
Posted byIndia must put their bench strength to test, in the remaining ODIs. Open with Saurabh Tiwary. Make room for Yousuf Pathan up the order, and play Rohit Sharma in the middle. Give some tested players a miss. India's attack is still very 'iffy', bar Zaheer Khan. Jadeja doesn't belong in the team. The Kiwis will lose to any team, given their lack of self-esteem.
Posted by Ashi.Gautam on (December 07 2010, 07:03 AM GMT)We need to understand this that "WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPERIMENT ANY MORE" people who had been given chances have almost cemented their place (Kohli or even Gambhir for that matter). Playing Manoj or Saurabh or Saha or Patel doesn't make any sense. Look at the bigger picture let our settled players get more experience before WC. Options available to us are for player who may be given chance if any injury occurs to our set player and even for that the list is full of Murali Vijay, Y.Pathan, Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar. As I said before "We don't have time to argue for inexperienced players even if they score a 100 it's of no avail. You need to show consistency and for that.. YOU DON'T HAVE TIME"
Posted by Ashi.Gautam on (December 07 2010, 06:55 AM GMT)It doesn't make any sense to argue for opening with Y. Pathan. He may have been batting as an opening batsman for Indore but at this stage (Indian team) there's absolute no point wasting "new ball" experience for a player who is suppose to accelerate the score in last 10-15 overs. Gauti definitely realizes this hence open to sending him at no.5, he may be even send at 4 if situation demands. But No.1 NO WAY! For me WC XI is 1. Sehwag 2. Gauti (please let him open so Sachin can handle the middle order) 3. Sachin 4. Kohli/Raina 5. Raina/Yuvi/Kohli 6. Dhoni 7. (MOST DEBATED) Yuvi/Y.Pathan 8. Bhajji 9. Zaks 10. Nehra/Ishant 11. Praveen/Munaf/Ojha/Ashwin (depending on pitch conditions) * I don't think R.Jadeja or for that matter even Yusuf should be considered for No. 7 spot. Following India's trend if top 6 fails I don't think either of these can do much about it. Said that, we have come a long way when sachin fails, India fails. Getting through our top 6 is one hell of a job
Posted byJames Macmillan has the best approach and action in New Zealand cricket and should be in the team. The team should be selected on pure cricket, but we don't have the selectors to recognise it. People with rugby status have too much influence. This attitue reveals how they don't understand the complexity and disipline associated with preparing cricket skills and talent.