Team India leaves for Kiwi tour

Indian cricket team on Thursday morning left for New Zealand to play a five-match one-day series, two Twenty20 and three Tests. The newly formed ODI team after winning the recent ODI series in Sri Lanka would like to continue its wining streak.

Indian coach Gary Kirsten on Wednesday said his team is not really concerned about the condition as they have a right balance with young and experienced cricketers. “We will go and assess it and build our plans and do our preparation accordingly," added Kirsten.

Addressing a press conference last evening India skipper MS Dhoni said that they would like to start as underdogs in a series like the forthcoming one which he considered a tough assignment.

‘Hopefully we will come back with a couple of trophies. We don't bother whether we are playing in Sri Lanka or any other country,’ he said.

It is to mention here that India has not won a series there since 1996. Last time India played in New Zealand, in December 2002, lost two Tests matches and the one-day series 2-5.

India would open the current tour with Twenty20 matches from February 25. The five one-dayers would be held between March 3 and March 14. The first Test in Hamilton will be played on March 18 and the remaining two Tests will be played in Napier (March 26-30) and Wellington (April 3-7).

Dhoni-led Indian team is riding high with their recent home Test series win against Australia and England, along with their recent one-day series win against hosts Sri Lanka. However, they will have to display all their skills in accepting the challenge on the seaming tracks over the next six weeks.

Indian Squad: MS Dhoni (Captain), V Sehwag (Vice Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Karthik and Sachin Tendulkar.