BLACKCAPS skipper Daniel Vettori believes his side’s upcoming Test series against India is going to be challenging and hoping the confidence brought by the players who were in Zimbabwe will rub off on the rest of the squad.
Speaking at the captains press conference Vettori said this was an “incredibly important tour for us.”
The 31 year-old all-rounder has made not secret of his desire to lead the team out of their current slump and is keen to put the disappointing tour of Bangladesh behind them.
“We’ve got an opportunity now to come to India and try to rectify it. It’s obviously going to be an incredibly challenging tour and India are playing some very good cricket.
“There are a few easy things we can do here to turn it around and increase our performance and that’s what we’re aiming to do. “
Vettori believes the BLACKCAPS have a well balanced side and is looking to the Test specialists who were part of the successful series win over Zimbabwe to lift the team.
“It’s a different format of the game, Test cricket, and we’ve got quite different personal.
“We’ve had six or seven guys in Zimbabwe in the ‘A’ series playing some good cricket and scoring runs and taking wickets. They’re not affected by what happened in Bangladesh and we’re hoping they can lead us with the confidence they have at the moment. “
When asked if he thought the conditions would suit spin he said, “They are favourable but I think the wickets are generally pretty flat here and Indian players are very good players of spin so I think that we are going to look to have a balance to our bowling attack.
“I think the seam bowlers have just a big a role as the spinners in these upcoming Test matches.”
The first of three Test’s gets under way in Ahmedabad on Thursday with the next two to be played in Hyderabad and Nagpur.
