Months of underperformance

It tells me that not too many runs have been scored here in September, he said during the press conference. Also,there could be plenty of bounce and turn on this Chinnaswamy wicket,which will make scoring runs all the more difficult, Taylor felt,with sincerity.

The honours board,however,did not reveal many secrets to Taylor. It did not tell him that just two Tests (none after 83) have been conducted in this city in September. And in that time frame,it witnessed the aforementioned three centuries (including a 99 by Javed Miandad). It didnt tell him that this might perhaps the best place and time going by the cent per cent hundreds record in September for his side to turn around their abysmal performances.

Daunting task

Scoring runs for Kiwi batsmen in Indian conditions,right through the year and not just September in this city,is a daunting task. The highest score for New Zealand in Bangalore (a place theyve previously played twice at,neither being September) is 58. By John Wright in 1988. In the one that followed in 1995,only Lee Germon crossed the 20s twice.

Both were lost by drastic margins,a situation oft repeated when the Silver Ferns come calling in their white flannels. Out of 30 matches contested between the two sides pan India,the Kiwis have won just two. The last of them appearing on the scoresheets as far ago as 24 years back in Mumbai (the other being in Nagpur in 1969). Taylor,however,should draw some courage from the fact that neither of the victorious sides contained a century maker. And both of them were the second Test of the series.

So,leading up to the Bangalore Test,the big question is if the Kiwis have it in them to pull off a miracle,a turn-around? Taylor thinks so. Test cricket is always tough. New Zealanders are normally fighters,and were trying to fight back,one session at a time. Edmund Hillary,fighter. Jonah Lomu,fighter. Richard Hadlee,fighter. This Test squad,after the innings and 115 run thrashing in Hyderabad? We havent played as well as we wouldve liked. But Bangalore presents us with another opportunity to show how good weve been as a team in the recent past, Taylor said.

Well,ever since their seven-run win over the Aussies in Hobart last year,New Zealand have played seven Tests,four at home,and have won just one against Test returnees Zimbabwe in Napier. Taylor has lost three in a row thanks to spinners in the West Indies (Sunil Narine) and India (R Ashwin and P Ojha).

Twice in two innings in Hyderabad,Taylor the best batsman in this Jesse Ryder void side fell to Ashwin,who finished with career best figures of 12 for 85. And without their best spinner in Daniel Vettori around,the fresh faces in India got along just fine with Cheteshwar Pujara striking his maiden century,in the only innings that he played. Pujara,however,is a bit sore even a day before the match,according to captain MS Dhoni,thanks to the whack he took off Kane Williamsons bat at short-leg in the follow-on innings. He did take a hard hit,which means itll take some time to fully recover. But its not restriciting him from batting and doing well. Well see him at number three, Dhoni said.

Talking of number threes,this is the position that Bangalores own Rahul Dravid batted at for as far as memory can stretch. Yet,as an exception from his greatness,he never managed to do well at Chinnaswamy with a top score of 60 and an average of 21.71. But if his promising replacement manages to repeat his Hyderabad act here,then two things will be set in stone. One,a batsman will have scored a hundred in every Bangalore match played in September; two,Taylor will perhaps not take the wooden sheet too seriously again.

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