Based on the strength of the teams on paper, the India-NZ Test series, which starts on Wednesday, should be a cakewalk for India. The batting order of India is one of the strongest in the world (Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dhoni, to name a few) and their bowling is not bad either when compared to the New Zealand team.

However, the history of India in New Zealand has been poor, especially the much-vaunted Indian batting which crumbled like a house of cards in an earthquake. While India has been the only team to consistently perform in Australia this decade, they have been unable to replicate the same at the Aussie’s neighbors. The problem has been the inability of the Indian batsmen to adapt to the pitches and conditions in New Zealand. This may not be as much of a problem as usual because the team has been playing in New Zealand for almost a month. However, six of the Test team were not chosen for the ODIs and T20s and do not have any live match practice. 

The recent Indian successes have been attributed by many to Dhoni’s captaincy and management style. It should be seen how he manages to inspire this team to perform better and win the series. Many of the youngsters in the team have much to prove. For Dravid, this is a do-or-die series. He was under pressure in India’s last series, and scored a century to ease some pressure off. Now he has to show that the century was not a flash in the pan.

This is a 3-Test series unlike recent series with other teams in New Zealand.  That will provide more excitement over a longer duration. Also it will allow a team to come back if they fail to start off the series properly. I suspect that would be India, which is most likely to crash and burn in the first Test. And if that happens, we will have to see if and how they come back.