Indias tour of New Zealand 2009 – A Look back
A fantastic season of cricket comes to an end as the curtains fall with the last test match at Wellington. Though Indians looked dominant, a young New Zealand side was resilient enough to deny victory without a fight. Vettori’s men did exceptionally well when they both the inaugural T20 matches.
It then looked like the sad saga of Indians loosing on foreign soil will continue this time too. But the D-Company proved it wrong. They nearly white washed the one day series which was consistently interrupted by Rain. The men in Blue clinched the one day series emphatically . Indians were strong on the paper and they were off it too. Sehwag had a blast in the one day series had a beautiful run of his form. So was Gambhir Dhoni and Tendulkar. Zaheer, Harbhajan were also impressive enough in the one dayers. The total tour stood 1-1 with a series win each at T20 and One dayers.
As the Test matches began with test specialists, Dravid and Laxman for Indians, they were the favorite for the test matches. They won the first teat easily while the second outing ended in a draw thanks to some great skill at play by Gambhir and Laxman. And then the third test where everything was going as planned for Dhoni except the rain. The final standing : India clinch the entire New Zealand series 2-1 (Tests,One Dayers – T20).
A very young and inexperienced side, the black caps impressed the world with back to back victories in Twenty-20 matches. In one dayers too there were many brilliant knocks in the likes of Ryder, Taylor, McCullum and Vettori. The bowling department also was not very far behind with some good bowling performaces by Martin, O Brein, Southee and the ever intelligent skipper himself. Ryder, Taylor and Mc cullum came good in the tests as well but the lack of experience clearly showed as they could not convert their runs to a match winning one. It would be a very good learnign experience for all the upcoming batsmen in the NZ team, to watch the greats like Sachin, Dravid Laxman closely and learn a tip or two from them. The inconsitent bowling unit could be one thing the New Zealanders might want to have a look in the homework room, before they step into play the next.
All said and done, the series has been a wonderful outing for both the teams. The men in black would have a thing or two to learn and stand up to their next fixes.Hopefully New Zealand shall see the best of the cricketing careers in the growing talent currently in the team. And for the men in blue, there would many sweet memories they take back home. And of course the two trophies which they had desired and truly have deserved. You rock D-Company !!!.
