DoubleO7
Member
India in New Zealand
VS
February - April
India kickoff their 48 day tour of New Zealand with a Twenty20 match. The tour will span 3 Tests, 5 ODI's and 2 Twenty20 matches. New Zealand has always been India's waterloo, let alone a test series, India hasn't won a single test in New Zealand.
The lack of practice matches (due to the need for completing the tour before the start of the IPL) could cost India like it cost them the Boxing Day test match against Australia in 2007. The wickets in England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are completely different to the sub-continent dustbowls and India cannot risk losing a match in trying to acclimatise with the demanding conditions. Despite this being a recurring problem, the BCCI seems to show no interest to address it.
Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Yuvraj, Laxman and Zaheer are the only players in the current India squad to have toured New Zealand before. Otherwise, India are carrying a relatively inexperienced side with little or no experience of playing in seaming and swinging conditions.
Sehwag was reasonably successful in the ODI format when he made two centuries - one in Napier and the other in Christchurch. We can expect him to play his natural game in the test maches too.
Gautam Gambhir will be tested in the seaming and swinging conditions. This is the first time Gambhir is playing in a test match outside the sub-continent. His long-term future as an Indian opener will depend upon how he will handle the conditions here.
Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor have returned from injury and been named in New Zealand's 13-man squad for two Twenty20s against India, but there appears growing concern for Kyle Mills.
Schedule
February 2009
Wed 25
7:00PM local, 06:00 GMT 1st T20I - New Zealand v India
AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Fri 27
7:00PM local, 06:00 GMT 2nd T20I - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
March 2009
Tue 3
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 1st ODI - New Zealand v India
McLean Park, Napier
Fri 6
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 2nd ODI - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Sun 8
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 3rd ODI - New Zealand v India
AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Wed 11
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 4th ODI - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Sat 14
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 5th ODI - New Zealand v India
Eden Park, Auckland
Wed 18 - Sun 22
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 1st Test - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Thu 26 - Mon 30
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 2nd Test - New Zealand v India
McLean Park, Napier
April 2009
Fri 3 - Tue 7
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 3rd Test - New Zealand v India
Basin Reserve, Wellington
Squads
New Zealand
First 2 T20I
Daniel Vettori (c)
Brendon McCullum (wk)
Martin Guptill
Neil Broom
Grant Elliott
Jesse Ryder
Ian Butler
Jacob Oram
Nathan McCullum
Iain O'Brien
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
Ewen Thompson
India
Tests
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c, wk)
Virender Sehwag (vc)
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
V.V.S. Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
Murali Vijay
Amit Mishra
L. Balaji
Dhawal Kulkarni
Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Limited Overs
MS Dhoni (c, wk)
Virender Sehwag (vc)
Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
Irfan Pathan
Pragyan Ojha
Rohit Sharma
Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Praveen Kumar
Ravindra Jadeja
(Squads from cricinfo.com)
Form (Last 5)
NZ-Tests. D3 L2
NZ-ODI. W2 L2 NR1
India-Tests. W3 D2
India-ODI. W4 L1
Series history
All Time Tests
P44 NZ 9 Ind 14 Drawn 21
All Time ODI
P75 NZ 35 Ind 36 NR 4
(Records from Cricinfo.com - The Home of Cricket)

February - April
India kickoff their 48 day tour of New Zealand with a Twenty20 match. The tour will span 3 Tests, 5 ODI's and 2 Twenty20 matches. New Zealand has always been India's waterloo, let alone a test series, India hasn't won a single test in New Zealand.
The lack of practice matches (due to the need for completing the tour before the start of the IPL) could cost India like it cost them the Boxing Day test match against Australia in 2007. The wickets in England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are completely different to the sub-continent dustbowls and India cannot risk losing a match in trying to acclimatise with the demanding conditions. Despite this being a recurring problem, the BCCI seems to show no interest to address it.
Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Yuvraj, Laxman and Zaheer are the only players in the current India squad to have toured New Zealand before. Otherwise, India are carrying a relatively inexperienced side with little or no experience of playing in seaming and swinging conditions.
Sehwag was reasonably successful in the ODI format when he made two centuries - one in Napier and the other in Christchurch. We can expect him to play his natural game in the test maches too.
Gautam Gambhir will be tested in the seaming and swinging conditions. This is the first time Gambhir is playing in a test match outside the sub-continent. His long-term future as an Indian opener will depend upon how he will handle the conditions here.
Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor have returned from injury and been named in New Zealand's 13-man squad for two Twenty20s against India, but there appears growing concern for Kyle Mills.
Schedule
February 2009
Wed 25
7:00PM local, 06:00 GMT 1st T20I - New Zealand v India
AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Fri 27
7:00PM local, 06:00 GMT 2nd T20I - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
March 2009
Tue 3
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 1st ODI - New Zealand v India
McLean Park, Napier
Fri 6
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 2nd ODI - New Zealand v India
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Sun 8
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 3rd ODI - New Zealand v India
AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Wed 11
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 4th ODI - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Sat 14
2:00PM local, 01:00 GMT 5th ODI - New Zealand v India
Eden Park, Auckland
Wed 18 - Sun 22
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 1st Test - New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton
Thu 26 - Mon 30
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 2nd Test - New Zealand v India
McLean Park, Napier
April 2009
Fri 3 - Tue 7
11:00AM local, 22:00 GMT 3rd Test - New Zealand v India
Basin Reserve, Wellington
Squads
New Zealand
First 2 T20I
Daniel Vettori (c)
Brendon McCullum (wk)
Martin Guptill
Neil Broom
Grant Elliott
Jesse Ryder
Ian Butler
Jacob Oram
Nathan McCullum
Iain O'Brien
Tim Southee
Ross Taylor
Ewen Thompson
India
Tests
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c, wk)
Virender Sehwag (vc)
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
V.V.S. Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
Murali Vijay
Amit Mishra
L. Balaji
Dhawal Kulkarni
Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Limited Overs
MS Dhoni (c, wk)
Virender Sehwag (vc)
Gautam Gambhir
Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
Irfan Pathan
Pragyan Ojha
Rohit Sharma
Dinesh Karthik (wk)
Praveen Kumar
Ravindra Jadeja
(Squads from cricinfo.com)
Form (Last 5)
NZ-Tests. D3 L2
NZ-ODI. W2 L2 NR1
India-Tests. W3 D2
India-ODI. W4 L1
Series history
All Time Tests
P44 NZ 9 Ind 14 Drawn 21
All Time ODI
P75 NZ 35 Ind 36 NR 4
(Records from Cricinfo.com - The Home of Cricket)