India haven’t won an international since they began touring in December; an unforgiving schedule won’t help as they look for a reversal during the Tests
Abhishek Purohit in Auckland04-Feb-2014For India, New Zealand has been the opposite of what South Africa was supposed to be. India were expected to go down in South Africa. Their young batsmen were not supposed to stand any chance against the No. 1 Test side in the world. Hardly anyone thought there would be any fight from the Indians. They did go down as envisaged, but they could have just as likely won the first Test in Johannesburg as they could have lost it. To come away from South Africa 0-1 with a raw Test line-up was an achievement.The next trip to New Zealand wouldn’t be remotely as challenging, it was widely thought, and not without reason. New Zealand had put in some encouraging performances of late, but had also been up and down as usual. They had failed to close out a home ODI series against the struggling West Indies.Just over halfway into the trip, expectations have been belied for the second tour running. This time, the surprise isn’t a pleasant one. India have failed to win a single match in the ODI series. They had been seriously poor in the ODIs in South Africa, but that was only two losses and a washout after all. This is four losses and a scraped tie in conditions nowhere near as challenging as those in South Africa.Forget the conditions for a moment. Right now, this is the challenge New Zealand has thrown up for India. They were almost expected to turn up and win; they have barely avoided a whitewash in the first leg of the tour by hanging on for a tie. As the Test leg arrives, can they rebound from this considerable setback?It is easy to say that the formats are different, that there is no choice but to put the ODI disappointment behind and move on. But this is now a side that is yet to win a single game in one-and-a-half tours. They haven’t tasted that winning feeling for over two months now. Change of format does not automatically suggest a change of fortunes. Especially for a side that is winless in its past nine international matches across all formats.When the losses are piling up, tours may feel long or short or even both at the same time. Teams can find themselves jaded, just going through the motions, hurtling from one defeat to another, unable to turn things around despite trying. They might just want to get it all done with and wonder when they can take the flight home.However, with packed schedules such as India’s, tours can also rush past you. You play a match, pack your bags, travel the next day, practice on the third, and play another match on the fourth. You know what is going wrong with your game, you know what you need to work on, but where is the time? Where is the physical and mental space needed to recover and regroup? It can become a combination of waiting for the tour to end and yet not being able to devote enough time to your game.To not help matters at all, India had a single day between the end of the ODI series and the start of the tour match. They had to fly from Wellington to Auckland, and take a bus to Whangarei. They then travelled back to Auckland, and now have a single day to get in some practice ahead of the first Test.The players have done what they could in terms of the schedule. The new arrivals for the Tests got some playing time in Whangarei. Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav sent down some overs. M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara managed to bat over an hour each. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, both of whom hadn’t done much in the ODIs, made fifties, albeit against a New Zealand XI side of fringe domestic players. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli did not make the trip to Whangarei, preferring to take time off the game.It is down to the hardest and longest format now. Dhoni’s men were able to stand up through it, and earn some respect in South Africa when no one expected them to. Can they avoid losing it in New Zealand?
