India will bounce back in the ODI series
Stephen Fleming - 24 December 2002
A 2-0 Test win against a quality side like India would please any
captain, and I’m no different. The way the team fought and the
aggression with which the bowlers bowled was fantastic. However,
I have to admit that the second Test was a bit of a lottery. I
was lucky that Sourav Ganguly called wrong again, and that luck
saw us through in the end. The pitch was not up to the usual
standard at Hamilton, and that was because of an unusually heavy
downpour for two days, just before the Test. According to the
local groundsmen in Hamilton, they had the equivalent of a month
of rain in just two days. The result was an under-prepared pitch
on which batting was very, very difficult.
It is grossly unfair to judge the Indian batting line-up on the
basis of their performances in the Test series. As far as I am
concerned, batting was tough, period. Our batsmen, with the
exception of Mark Richardson, had a poor series as well. It was
very tough in the middle and particularly so for the Indians who
had just finished a series in hugely different conditions and had
very little time to acclimatise.
The Indians would have been better off if they had left more
balls. During my 32 in the second innings, I played as few balls
as possible. The only Indian batsman who was trying to do that
was Rahul Dravid. The Indians like to play many balls, and that
mindset led to their downfall. We had noticed this tendency among
them and our bowlers used it very well.
The picture might be slightly different for the bowlers from both
sides in the one-dayers, though. The conditions will definitely
be more batsman-friendly, the weather a lot warmer. The Indians,
smarting from their defeat in the Test series, will go all out to
make amends, and the conditions will favour them.
I anticipate a very closely-fought one-day series, with both
sides eager to head for the World Cup with a series win behind
them. Shane Bond, who for a change had to take a back seat to
Daryl Tuffey, and Jacob Oram will be eager to take the centre-
stage once again, and I feel the key to the series lies in how
the Indians play him early in the innings.
We will be missing three of our regular pros - Chris Cairns,
Chris Harris and Andre Adams - due to injury. In their absence,
some youngsters are being tried out with an eye on the World Cup.
Among them is wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills and Paul
Hitchcock. McCullum had made his debut against Australia but had
disappointed. Hopefully he will have a better time against India.
Matthew Sinclair will also be eager to earn a place in the side
for the World Cup. There has been some debate over my decision to
open the innings in the one-dayers. However, I plan to open in
the first two one-dayers and will then decide on what to do next.
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