With the Super Max festival match out of the way, it's time to get down to more serious business. In a crammed schedule where two Tests and seven ODIs have been squeezed into less than five weeks, India's three-day match against Central Districts is the only opportunity for their players to warm up and familiarise themselves with conditions before the real action begins. As expected, India's XII for the match included all the names who are likely to figure at Wellington on December 12 - except one. Zaheer Khan, who got a nasty bruise on his knee and hobbled off during the Super Max tie, was given more time to recover. Tinu Yohannan gets an unexpected opportunity to press his claims, and keep Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar on their toes.

In a line-up studded with classy batsmen, the greatest worry for the Indian camp remains the task of taking 20 wickets. Sourav Ganguly chose to gloss over that aspect – "We've got a better seam attack," he stated when asked how this team was different from some of earlier ones which toured New Zealand and lost – but he was clearly overstating the facts. All four of India's seam attack average more than 35 per wicket, and crucially, none of them has played a Test in New Zealand before. Among the bowlers in the current squad, the most experienced in New Zealand is Harbhajan Singh, and he went wicketless in the only Test he played there.

While the lack of bowling firepower is alarming, there's little to worry about on the batting front, especially in the middle order. And most importantly, this batting line-up has given the impression that it can score runs even in seamer-friendly conditions. "The best feature about our tour of England this year is we batted well at Headingley and Nottingham which were green wickets," said John Wright, the coach, when asked how India would handle the bowler-friendly pitches which are expected in the early part of the season here.

The tour opener at Napier is also a grudge game for the Indians – four years ago, they were put in by Central Districts on a greentop and bundled out for a miserable 103. India went on to lose that match by seven wickets, despite Sachin Tendulkar's blazing 154 in the second innings.

Teams (from)
Central Districts Craig Spearman, Peter Ingram, Mathew Sinclair, Glen Sulzberger, Jacob Oram (capt), Jamie How, Bevan Griggs, Martyn Sigley (wk), Michael Mason, Andrew Schwass, Lance Hamilton, Brent Hefford.

India Virender Sehwag, Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), VVS Laxman, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Tinu Yohannan, Murali Kartik.

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