NZ vs IND 2019: Why is it difficult for India to win the series
Team India is arguably the best team at this moment across all formats of the game. Irrespective of the conditions and formats, Men in blue have been on a dream run for the last couple of years. Things are falling in place for India with the likes of bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal while India found their all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav.
India started the year 2018 by losing the test series in South Africa but they registered their first ODI series victory in South Africa. In England, they lost both the test and ODI series. But Kohli's men gained the momentum back and made a strong statement by winning the test and ODI series in Australia. India won the test and ODI series 2-1 while the T20 series ended in 1-1. Now they are touring New Zealand for 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is.
On the other hand, New Zealand has won all the ODI and test series they played in the last 10 months except the ODI series against Pakistan in UAE which was held on a 1-1 draw. Currently, India is placed at No 2 in ODI rankings behind England while New Zealand occupies No 3. But the conditions in New Zealand are always challenging for any touring nation.
Let's look at the three factors which will make the journey hard for team India in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
#3 Pitch and conditions
The pitches in New Zealand offers huge assistance to fast bowlers. The ball tends to come quickly to the bat and the bounce is usually high. The ball swings a lot since most of the grounds are close to the sea. The pitches all over the world are now becoming more batsman-friendly. But New Zealand pitches still offer a lot to seamers even though batsmen have the advantage of smaller ground size.
Apart from all the progress made in recent times, Indian batsmen are still not good at playing against fast bowling. Indian batting unit heavily depends on the top 3. Considering the weakness of Rohit and Dhawan against the swinging and short deliveries, it is going to be a huge task for the top 3 to give a solid start with the bat.