India would be disappointed in the way they batted in today's National Bank tour opener against Central Districts in Napier, but their mediocre effort did not signal a disaster about to happen, Central skipper Craig Spearman said.

India were dismissed for 209, and Central replied with 69 for one - a reasonable start because Spearman (40 not out) expects the wicket to take considerable turn tomorrow because it is drier than usual Napier wickets.

"But while they will be disappointed with their batting today, it doesn't mean they can't handle this kind of wicket. It swung this morning and there was some seam, but they told me they've been struggling to overcome the jetlag and they've been up in the middle of the night," Spearman said.

"It's pretty tough after such a trip to come out and play your first game. And they play so much cricket that perhaps it's a little hard to get up for a match like this."

Spearman saw a lot of the Indians in England while he was playing for Gloucestershire. And what he saw told him the Indians will handle New Zealand wickets very quickly.

"The batting line-up they had over there will be the batting line-up for the Tests here. They did exceptionally well in England - I was most impressed. So I'm sure they're not too worried at this stage.

"They played on some difficult wickets over there and were most impressive. Especially in the Headingly Test, which they won, the wicket was doing all sorts and the Poms bowled pretty well," he said.

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