India on verge of history as 3rd Test begins today
Friday, 3 April 2009
WELLINGTON, Apr 2 (AP): India cricket coach Gary Kirsten says his side will be playing to win when the third Test begins Friday, despite needing only a draw to clinch its first series win in New Zealand in 41 years.
After beating New Zealand by 10 wickets in the first test at Hamilton and drawing the high-scoring second Test at Napier, India can clinch the three-Test series with a win or draw at the Basin Reserve. India's win at Hamilton was its first Test win in New Zealand since 1976 and the tourists remain in pursuit of their first Test series win here since 1968. Kirsten, a former South African test opener, said it was not in the nature of the Indian players to look for a draw and his team would play positive cricket.
"We certainly don't do any strategizing around playing for a draw," he said. "We want to go and win every test match and that's going to be our intention in this one. We play that way, we play fair cricket. We like to play aggressively."
Only two of the last 10 Tests at the Basin Reserve have been drawn. Kirsten has already declared himself happy with the pitch, which is likely to provide the pace and bounce that suits both India's batsmen and bowlers.
Lineups (from):
New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori (captain), Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin, Tim Southee.
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Karthik, Lakshmi Balaji.
After beating New Zealand by 10 wickets in the first test at Hamilton and drawing the high-scoring second Test at Napier, India can clinch the three-Test series with a win or draw at the Basin Reserve. India's win at Hamilton was its first Test win in New Zealand since 1976 and the tourists remain in pursuit of their first Test series win here since 1968. Kirsten, a former South African test opener, said it was not in the nature of the Indian players to look for a draw and his team would play positive cricket.
"We certainly don't do any strategizing around playing for a draw," he said. "We want to go and win every test match and that's going to be our intention in this one. We play that way, we play fair cricket. We like to play aggressively."
Only two of the last 10 Tests at the Basin Reserve have been drawn. Kirsten has already declared himself happy with the pitch, which is likely to provide the pace and bounce that suits both India's batsmen and bowlers.
Lineups (from):
New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori (captain), Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin, Tim Southee.
India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Karthik, Lakshmi Balaji.