Wicket should aid the spinners

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming called it “softer and dustier than the Kanpur track” while the Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar called it a “good wicket for Test cricket”. All said and done, there wasconsensus on the wicket aiding spinners, but the degree of turn and the occurrence of the inevitable remains to be seen.

What makes the contest crucial is the importance of this game to the two teams. For New Zealand, it’s a win or bust situation. The Indians are eager to impress the selectors, who are scheduled to select the team for Australian tour during the match.

Indian coach Kapil Dev chose to keep the cards close to chest and did not think much about the “not changing the winning combination” theory. But Fleming is contemplating a few changes.

The tour so far for the Kiwis has been a case of unfavourable verdict due to a weak opening statement. Their first wicket partnership sequence so far has been — 7, 24, 7, 16. A pattern which might make a one-drop batsman ask for opening batsman’s perks. Maybe it’s time to toll the Bell and honk the Horne — the Mathew-Matt show can’t have an opening act.

And the New Zealand skipper agrees. Though not naming the replacement, chances are Craig Spearmanmay open the innings.

It is not just that they have failed to click as a pair, even individually there has not been much to write home about. In the four innings the two have played, Horne aggregates a modest 62 while Bell is a few shades paler with 29. Chances are Bell may make way for Spearman.

Earlier this year, when this same New Zealand side broke the long-standing Lord’s voodoo by winning their first-ever Test at the hallowed ground, the English Press labelled the bunch as `The Ghostbusters’. The next assignment for the Black Caps was to solve an Oriental mystery — search for a Test win in India which was last heard in 1988 and a series win never heard of. Considering the complexity of the task, they came to India with an array of experts — technical advisor, a player analyst and a computer data analyst besides the coach and manager. But the mystery of the brown carpet spooked them at Kanpur.

Ahmedabad offers one last opportunity to `The Ghostbusters’ to accomplish their mission. If theysucceed, here’s a small request. Please post the findings to — Australia, England, West Indies… they all have left this land asking questions in the past.

Ganguly misses nets: Saurav Ganguly missed the nets on Test-eve. because of a sore throat.

Kapil Dev said: “Saurav was not feeling well due to hectic training session and asked my permission to skip the nets. As I wanted him 100 per cent fit for the Test, I though a day’s rest will help him.”

The Teams

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Dion Nash, Nathan Astle, Matthew Bell, Chris Cairns, Chris Drum, Chris Harris, Matthew Horne, Craig McMillan, Shayne O’Connor, Adam Parore (wk), Andrew Penn, Gary Stead, Spearman, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman.

India: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), S Ramesh, D Gandhi, R Dravid, S Ganguly, V Bharadwaj, MSK Prasad, A Kumble, S Joshi, J Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, V Prasad, A Jadeja, D Mohanty.

Umpires: Rudi Kotezer, V K Ramaswamy.

Third umpire: I Shivraman.