A Historic Win By India Over New Zealand

India's Historic Victory

India's Tour to New Zealand ended in triumph for India. In T20 series they lost 2-0 but when it comes to twenty twenty format its totally unpredictable. One good over, one good ball, few edges here and there can change the match. So i won't read much into the T20 series. It could have gone either way.

About the one day series - the 50 over format. India brutally destroyed New Zealand in every aspect of the game. New Zealand bowling lacked the quality to restrict India, probably they were missing Shane Bond who troubled India a lot during their last tour. Virender Sehwag was clearly unstoppable. Sachin Tendulkar displayed his class. Zaheer Khan bowled amazingly and if you ignore the blip in the last one dayer. India were truly world class.

In the test series India again was the far more superior team. Except in the second test when Indian batting collapsed in the first innings did New Zealand looked dominating. But that didn't last too long as India batted comfortably for 2 days to save the test match. In the first and the third test match India played excellently and they showed why they are being touted as one of the teams that would remove Australia from their pedestal (the other is South Africa).

I here would write about the test series that just concluded. Some highlights of the series:

1. Gautam Ghambir - His sparkling form helped India save the second test match and take command in the third. He has matured as a batsman and his weakness of flirting with balls outside off stump has been dealt with. I recently read at cricinfo that he is the fastest Indian to reach 2,000 test runs in 25 tests. He broke Sunil Gavaskar's record of reaching 2,000 runs in 26 tests (i am not sure of this 26 figure). Hope to see more of such classy form from him.
2. Sachin Tendulkar - Played really well. His tally read 100s - 1 and 50s - 2. I personally would have been happier if the tally was 2 hundreds and 1 half century. Anywayz, its nice to see him in form again. He is 36 now (would soon be). Lets hope he can continue till 2011 world cup in ODIs and till 2012-13 in Test cricket.
3. Rahul Dravid - "The Wall" is back. He showed enormous form in this series by hitting a few half centuries. I read in Ian O'Brien's blog that he said that lets hope Dravid stay at the crease is shorter next time around. This shows how frustrated NZ was with this guys form. Here again i would have been happier if he would have scored at least one hundred. He got some hard decisions as well. But nonetheless he snatched the record from Mark Waugh of 181 catches for taking the most catches by a non keeper by taking his tally to 182 and beyond. His catching has been sloppy of late but i think it was because of the poor form with the bat he was in. I think the problem was more mental. Now he is back in good form with the bat lets hope his catching again regains the old touch.
4. V.V.S. Laxman - This guy is simply amazing. Scores hundreds and 50s every time India are in trouble. If India is in trouble he will surely come up with a decent score as showed by the hundred in the second innings in Napier test in which India was looking down at the barrel. He is also 36, but the good thing is he is still going strong.
5. MS Dhoni - The guy has got a Midas touch. Bats well, captains excellently. Is not the exactly the elegant batsman but still is effective. His performance in the series was good.
6. Virender Sehwag - He got starts but never converted them into the big hundreds he is famous for. Threw it away on spinners by playing his favorite slog sweep. Some would say thats the way he plays but the way he threw it away was unacceptable.
7. Zaheer Khan - He has started bowling very nice line and length and swing both ways. That was the reason for his success - Discipline. Something which he lacked earlier. Also he has been quite fit off late. He has finally become the spearhead of a very talented Indian bowling attack.
8. Harbhajan Singh - He hasn't got a overseas record to boast off. But in this series in the absence of Anil Kumble he performed as India's leading spinner. He ended as the leading wicket taker in the series. Well done, Bhajjii.

I don't understand why Ishant Sharma struggled. He is also lacking discipline as Zaheer did in his early career days. Munaf Patel was good in parts. And i have to say why Indians are carrying Yuvraj Singh in their test team i will never understand. He is just saving his place by making half centuries which are entirely insignificant. When India needed him in first innings of Napier test he just threw it away. And in the second innings came and scored a fifty in the second innings to show how good he is. Even in the third test he played nicely. But he needs to play good innings when India are 300 for 5 or 6 rather than 400 for 3. He needs to improve fast because time is running out for him. The only thing going for him is that he is one of Dhoni's favorites to be in the side. But how long will Dhoni hold to Yuvraj with so many talented youngsters waiting....only time will tell.

From the New Zealand perspective they have got a talented team which includes Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori. If Taylor and Ryder can do justice to their potential then they would form a very strong middle order. The only glitch in their team is their bowling. After Shane Bond's loss to ICL they haven't got a bowler who can rip through other team's batting line ups especially one with the class of India, Australia or South Africa. They are relying too much on Vettori who himself has lost a bit of effectiveness with age, also i think is the factor that too much responsibility lays on his shoulders.

Well this tour for India was a success and a historic end as India hadn't won a series in New Zealand for 40 odd years. The achievement is over rated and when after few years would be gone by people would say that NZ were not strong enough and India boasted of the best team they have had in years (although i think Sourav Ganguly's team was the best). But who cares, lets enjoy the moment and celebrate.