The New Zealand captain, Ross Taylor, has said that the New Zealand players have to make some improvements before the start of the test series against India. The performance of the New Zealand team was disastrous in all forms of the game on the recent West Indies tour. The team managed to win only one match on the tour. The weakness of New Zealand batsmen against the spinners got exposed and the New Zealand batsmen kept struggling against the West Indies spinners throughout the series.
In India, the pitches would be slow and spinner friendly and India has also got two quality spinners in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha. So, it would not be easy for the New Zealand batsmen to score big runs in India. As per Taylor, in test matches, once you get in, you must play a big inning. But, the New Zealand batsmen are throwing wickets after getting set. In the two test matches against West Indies, none of the New Zealand batsmen was able to score a hundred. The opener, Martin Guptill, scored the maximum number of runs for New Zealand in the test series. He scored 277 runs in 2 test matches at an average of 69.25. Apart from Guptill, no other New Zealand batsman looked in good nick.
On being asked about Daniel Vettori’s fitness, the New Zealand skipper said that Vettori’s injury hasn’t got any better and probably, he would not be able to play in the upcoming test series against India. This is a big blow for New Zealand as Vettori could have been more than handy under the Indian conditions. Taylor said that in the absence of Daniel Vettori, the leg spinner Tarun Nethula might get a chance to make his debut in the test matches against India.