India won series by winning final Test with innings and 198 runs

Well great performance from Indian batsmen and superb display of bowling by Indian bowlers helped India to win the series 1-0 against New Zealand at Jamtha(Nagpur). Looking at the performance of Indian team and New Zealand team in first two test matches it looked like final test will also end in a draw or will be a close finish but Indian Team rose to the challenge and played fantastic cricket to register easy win over Kiwis. At the start of this test India was handicapped in bowling department as their strike bowler Zaheer Khan got injured and pulled out of this test but despite Zaheer's loss India won this test match convincingly. It clearly shows Indian team is not depending on the individuals and they have enough and able replacements. There are lot of positives coming out of this match for Indian team like  Ishant Sharma back in his bowling form , Harbhajan's batting  and Rahul Dravid back in form by correcting his technical flaws. Now talking about negative aspects and it is Surest Raina before this series he was considered great talent and I still believe he is great talent but this series have not done any good to his confidence as he scored only 26 runs in four innings at an paltry average of  6.5 which is not good sign for him and Indian team. Another negative aspect was batting of God(Sachin Tendulkar) who accumulated only 126 runs in the series at an average of 31.50 which is not upto his standard and also missing out on his landmark of 50th Test Hundred which was eagerly awaited by the  fans across the globe. But as we all know Tendulkar is class act and he can come out of these bad situation very quickly. On the whole great series win but not that convincing. Atleast 2-0 was expected from team India after their clean sweep on Australia.

Coming to New Zealand side. They came in this series with horrible loss at the hands of Bangladesh in one-day series and were expected to lose 3-0 but to everybody's surprise they fought well in the series and drew first two test. Lot of positives they carry from this series as they got new star in batting that is Kane Williamson who scored century on debut and impressed everybody with his skill to play on sub-continent pitches and condition. Another positives for them were Jesse Ryder's return and Chris Martin's bowling . I feel Martin  bowled very well on Indian pitches but he was bit unlucky. Kiwis also suffered set-back because of poor batting form of Ross Taylor who was expected a lot to do well in the series but he couldn't live upto the expectations. I also feel New Zealand made a mistake in final test by not including Jeetan Patel as we all saw there was lot of bounce and turn in the pitch and he could have proved handy on this track. Another impressive thing from New Zealan side was their fielding and running between the wickets which was far superior than India team and on this aspect they were far ahead form team India. Overall great series win for team India and I must congratulate Kiwis for fighting hard and drawing first 2 test matches.

Well now test series is over and focus will be on one-day series and both  teams have already made few changes in their squads and I feel one-day series will give us great thrill and entertainment.

SUPREMACY AT STAKE FOR TEAM INDIA AND MS. DHONI

After two drawn test matches Team India will take on Kiwis at Nagpur on Saturday 20th November. It is do or die situation for Dhoni and his men and have to win this contest at any cost if they want to remain supreme in longer format of the game. On the other side draw in this test match for Kiwis will be great and if Kiwis win then this will be their first series win in India and that will give them great boost for the One-Day series which is starting right after the Test Series.

India is already hampered in bowling department as their most consistent and threatning bowler Zaheer Khan got injured during last match and will not take part in this test match. Zaheer was the only bowler in Indian side who looked like picking up wickets regulary and this loss put Team India under pressure as rest of their bowlers including star spinner Harbhajan Singh are not in great form.Weather will also become factor in the result as it is raining in Nagpur so one can expect curtailed match and again that also is not very great news for Team India. Another problem for Team India is form of their batsmen and mainly Sachin Tendulkar has not performed to his best in this series but Sachin is class player and he can come in form anytime but question mark on Dhoni and Raina as both are consistently failing and that certainly put India on back-foot. On the other side all the Kiwi batsmen are in great form and had scored 100+ plus score individually atleast once in both the test matches and that give upper-hand to Kiwis atleast in batting department. Kiwi bowling is also doing well especially captain Vettori is great form with ball and he is properly supported by his fast bowlers. Moreover, Kiwi fielding is big plus for them as we saw in Hyderabad test where Kiwi fielder saved 50-60 runs and which created frustration among Indian batsmen and that resulted into the wickets of Sachin, Raina and Dhoni. So Team India have to be careful and have to win this test and for that they have to give much improved performance otherwise rankings will say something else after this Test Match.

Lastly, my instincts telling me that if weather will be good in Nagpur then Team India will going to lose this Test and I am sure about it.

Super Hit performance by Kiwis and Flop Show of Indian bowler resulted into Draw

Kiwis came in this Test Match with lot of confidence and that confidence helped them to achieve the result they desired.Coach Mark Greatbatch said before the start of the series that we are looking at 2 draws and I feel his boys have proved him correct by showing lot of character in both the matches they played at Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. All the top order Kiwi batsman except Ross Taylor are in top form now and I won't be surprised if they win the next test Match at Nagpur which is starting on Saturday. Looking at Kiwi performance, I must put question mark on the abilities Indian bowlers because if you are 'Number One' in rankings and consider yourself 'Number One' then you are expected to beat the number 8 ranked side and that can only happen if you pick 20 wickets in a match but except Zaheer Khan none of the Indian bowlers look like a international class. The way McCullum, Ryder, Williamson and Co. hit them and kept them at bay was very pity. After this match India will be under lot of pressure going into next Test Match. Main worry for Indians is the poor bowling form of Harbhajan Singh, off-late most of the teams playing Harbhajan Singh  comfortably and it seems Harbhajan has lost  bowling. I hope he comes good very quickly otherwise he will become another Irfan Pathan and probably lose his place in the side because we have enough batsmen in our side. If India have to win then Harbhajan have to contribute significantly with the ball atleast in home matches. Another worry for India is batting form of MS Dhoni which is now matter of concern, it seems Dhoni is curbing his natural game and playing under some kind of pressure but he has to understand that his technique is not that great like Rahul Dravid and he will not survive much with defensive batting, so Dhoni has to play to his strength  which aggressive batting just like Virender Sehwag. Now coming to performance of Sreesanth who talks about sticking to the basics and forget the same in the match. I think it is high time for Sreesanth to look at his performances and have to learn from his mistakes. Another zero is Suresh Raina who started his Test career with century but now struggling and problem with him is he thinks Test cricket is T20 or ODI game and try to play lot of shots before getting used to the pitch, conditions and situation of the match. Gary Kirsten have to speak to him and make him understand the test cricket otherwise he will also lose his place like Yuvraj Singh as Cheteshwar Pujara is waiting to get into the team. Beware Raina.

Looking at both the matches I am getting the feeling that India has lost the plot and they will going to lose in Nagpur as Kiwis are in top form, so my favourites for Nagpur is Kiwis looking at their performance.

Great Show by Kiwis at Motera...Beware India

As I mentioned in my earlier post that Kiwis are hungry to give good performance after drubbing in Bangladesh, Kiwis proved me right. I also mentioned  in my last post about Brendon, McCullum, Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori, that also proved right and which inspired young Kane Williamson also, to hit a century on debut. Jesse Ryder's performance was icing on the cake. Now lot of work  for Team India ahead and Kiwis have put enormous pressure on No.1 side to give their best performance at Hyderabad. Team India was in control till Day 2 in Ahmedabad but Kiwis clawed back into the contest with some great performances on the field and gave hard time to the Indian Team . Thanks to Laxman and Harbhajan who saved India's pride and drew the Test. There are few concerns for Team India before Hyderabad Test and one of them is Gambhir's form, secondly bowling form of Harbhajan Singh. I feel Gambhir has to fight his way out because last year he was prolific scorer for India in all forms of the game and this year he looks like a struggler. I feel team management must give him confidence and security so that he can play well. Talking about Harbhajan , he is doing well with the bat but India required Harbhajan 'the bowler' because we have enough batsmen in our ranks. If Harbhajan will not perform with ball then I think result will be different for India in this series because you can't expect from Zaheer Khan to win you series alone without any support. Now coming to biggest worry of Team India and that is form of Indian captain MS Dhoni who is failing with bat continuously. As a captain he is doing well so nobody can point fingers at him but once team start losing then it will be difficult for him to answer. So all in all great prospect lies ahead for Kiwis at Hyderabad after their stunning performance at Ahmedabad and for Team India its time to pull up the socks and improve the performance if they want to win the series. I feel next two test matches will be fantastic and if Kiwis win I will not be surprised after their superb performance at Motera.