Indian batting talent staggers Mills

“Their bats seem to be made of something special. We have to try and bowl a string of dot balls and put pressure on them and break their momentum,” Mills told reporters ahead of the fourth one-dayer in Hamilton on Wednesday.

“I look back at some Aussie teams,with Gilchrist and Hayden both in form in the same innings. It was pretty tough to bowl at them. But at the moment there is (Virender) Sehwag,who some say is in the form of his life. Then you have (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni. You get a wicket and another very strong batsman comes in,” he added.

Mills also feels that he had let his team,which trails 0-2 in the series,down by not taking wickets early in the innings.

“We had really specific plans against the batsmen,and we executed them really well in Australia. It is pretty obvious we haven’t been executing them here,and we have suffered the consequences. But the plans are pretty good in general.

“I have probably let the side down in the last couple of games. I have not started off as well as I normally do or did in the series against Australia and West Indies. The responsibility falls on me as the leader of the attack,” Mills said.

“If you get hit for four and sixes off good balls,it is hard to absorb it. But you can accept such punishment when you have bowled a poor ball. A half volley or a short ball is just not acceptable at international cricket,” he said.

However,Mills said he was determined to settle scores.

“The way we have played our last two-three games is disappointing. It comes down to execution and I will put my hand up and say I have not executed well. And I am looking forward to set things right,” said Mills.

Mills,who returned to international cricket last week after an injury-forced hiatus,was happy that skipper Daniel Vettori was back with the team after recovering from an injury.

“Daniel is our best bowler. He is a quality left-arm spinner. He leads us really well and is quite astute. He has got to be a huge factor for us in the remaining two games.

“The team’s looking forward to have him back,” said Mills,hoping the tide will turn in New Zealand’s favour.” Ryder’s pyrotechnics was a revelation as he literally butchered Zaheer,Praveen and Munaf,whose dibbly-dobblies he dispatched to the pickets with utter contempt.

Ryder is one to watch. While thundering to his maiden one-day hundred (105),the burly left-hander made it loud and clear to bowlers around the globe that he could destroy any attack on his day. But he has to be a lot more consistent to win the respect of the bowling tribe.

New Zealand do have a couple of more young batters who could make a mark in international cricket soon. But at this point in time,it is the Indian batting which holds court in the series.

Teams (From): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c),Virender Sehwag,Gautam Gambhir,Yuvraj Singh,Suresh Raina,Yusuf Pathan,Harbhajan Singh,Praveen Kumar,Zaheer Khan,Ishant Sharma,Rohit Sharma,Irfan Pathan,Pragyan Ojha,Dinesh Karthik.

New Zealand): Daniel Vettori (captain),Brendon McCullum,Jesse Ryder,Martin Guptill,Ross Taylor,Jacob Oram,Grant Elliot,Peter McGlashan,Iain O’Brien,Kyle Mills,Ewen Thompson,Jeetan Patel.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen,Gary Baxter. Third umpire: Evan Watkin. Fourth umpire: C Gaffaney.

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle.

Match starts at 6.30 am (IST).