Indian cricket team in New Zealand in 2008–09

The Indian cricket team toured New Zealand from 25 February to 7 April 2009, playing a Test match series with New Zealand for the first time in five years. The tour included three Tests, five ODIs and two T20Is. New Zealand won both the T20Is. India won both the ODI series 3-1 and Test series 1-0.

Squads

The Indian Squads were announced on the 13th of February. Dhawal Kulkarni got his maiden call up to the national squad, having been selected for the test squad after a strong debut Ranji trophy season where he was the highest wicket taker. L Balaji made a return to the Test squad after a five year hiatus having last played in a test in 2004. Balaji was dropped from the ODI squad after he played in a single match in the previous tour, he was replaced by the now fit Munaf Patel. In the test squad Balaji replaced Pragyan Ojha with the selectors opting for an extra seamer instead of an extra spinner for the tour. Ojha retained his place in the ODI and T20 squads. Subramaniam Badrinath was dropped from the test squad in favour of reserve Wicket-Keeper Dinesh Karthik after Karthik too had a strong Ranji trophy season. Karthik was selected for all three squads, replacing Jadeja in the ODI squad. Ravindra Jadeja's impressive ODI debut was rewarded with a call up to the Twenty20 squad but Jadeja will be replaced by Sachin Tendulkar for the subsequent ODI series. Munaf Patel made a return to all three squads after having to pull out midway through the previous tour of Sri Lanka due to injury. Harbhajan Singh also made a return to all three squads after having to pull out at the beginning of the previous tour to Sri Lanka due to injury.^[1]

The New Zealand squad for the T20's was announced on the 21st of February. Jacob Oram Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor returned after their injry. Oram however will only play as a batsman. Kyle Mills was injured and was replaced by Ewen Thompson. Ryder replaced Peter Fulton^[2]

Test

Indian Squad for ODI

• MS Dhoni - Captain/Wicket Keeper
• Virender Sehwag - Vice Captain
• Dinesh Karthik - Wicket Keeper
• Gautam Gambhir
• Harbhajan Singh
• Irfan Pathan
• Ishant Sharma
• Munaf Patel
• Pragyan Ojha
• Praveen Kumar
• Rohit Sharma
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Suresh Raina
• Yusuf Pathan
• Yuvraj Singh
• Zaheer Khan

Indian Squad for Twenty20

• MS Dhoni - Captain/Wicket Keeper
• Virender Sehwag - Vice Captain
• Dinesh Karthik - Wicket Keeper
• Gautam Gambhir
• Harbhajan Singh
• Irfan Pathan
• Ishant Sharma
• Munaf Patel
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Rohit Sharma
• Pragyan Ojha
• Praveen Kumar
• Suresh Raina
• Yusuf Pathan
• Yuvraj Singh
• Zaheer Khan

New Zealand Squad for Twenty20

• Daniel Vettori - Captain
• Neil Broom
• Ian Butler
• Grant Elliott
• Martin Guptill
• Brendon McCullum - Wicketkeeper
• Nathan McCullum
• Iain O'Brien
• Jacob Oram
• Jesse Ryder
• Tim Southee
• Ross Taylor
• Ewen Thompson

Grounds

• AMI Stadium, Christchurch - Cap 36,500
• Basin Reserve, Wellington - Cap 11,600
• Eden Park, Auckland - Cap 50,000
• McLean Park, Napier - Cap 16,500
• Seddon Park, Hamilton - Cap 10,000
• Westpac Stadium, Wellington - Cap 33,500

Twenty20 Series

1st Twenty20

2nd Twenty20

ODI series

1st ODI

2nd ODI

3rd ODI

4th ODI

5th ODI

Test series

1st Test

2nd Test

3rd Test

Both sides came under criticism for their defensive approach in the final Test — New Zealand for failing to set aside its headaches about the gifts of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma and groom a traditionally seam-friendly wicket, and India for not ramming home its advantage over the course of the final two days. "A 2-0 victory would have been a more correct index of the difference between the teams," wrote Indian journalist Suresh Menon,^[3] bemoaning Dhoni's lack of urgency first in batting on too long in the second innings and then in leading a signally listless and complacent display in the field. The Indian skipper's answer to the first charge was that "a huge score meant that we could keep attacking all the time."^[4] As Menon observed, however,

strangely, he didn't attack all the time. He didn't tell Harbhajan Singh that the bowler should stop sending down his express deliveries but flight the ball. Post-tea on the fourth day, the whole team appeared over-relaxed and almost casual, as if winning would be just a matter of turning up on the fifth day.

A 2-0 victory would have been a more correct index of the difference between the teams. India appeared only too satisfied with a 1-0 win. This is not how champion teams play, and if India aspire to knock Australia off the perch at the top, they will have to be more ruthless in their approach, more focused, and not so easily satisfied.^[3]

References

• Menon, Suresh. "A bird in hand, Dhoni leaves the second in the bush." Dreamcricket, 8 April 2009.

Notes