India may have had a topsy-turvy tri-series in Sri Lanka so far, but Ross Taylor believes they still have an edge going into today's crunch match at Dambulla. MS Dhoni's men lost to New Zealand by 200 runs before thrashing Sri Lanka by eight wickets only to lose to the same team by eight wickets later, leaving them with no option but to beat the Kiwis today to book a place in the final against the hosts.
Taylor, the New Zealand middle-order batsman, is leading an inexperienced team that does not have either Daniel Vettori, their left-arm spinner and captain, or Brendon McCullum, the wicketkeeper-batsman. And it is for that reason Taylor is not putting too much expectation on his team. He also believes the Indians will look to make amends after their defeat to Sri Lanka. "I think it almost makes them dangerous," Taylor said in the pre-match press conference yesterday. "They didn't play that well against us in the first game, and then they came back and played well against Sri Lanka.
"Obviously they didn't play as well as they would have liked to play against Sri Lanka in the last match, that makes them dangerous. I would not read too much on the Indian side. They are a good batting unit. They have played a lot of cricket. I am sure with their experience they will come firmer and we just need to put pressure on them," he added. Taylor also said his bowlers would continue to pitch it up against the Indians, who are known to be susceptible to the rising ball. "I guess we would have to wait and see what the pitch is like and see how the bounce is. I think it is a fresh wicket. And most of the wickets that we played on turned a lot more than we expected and then bounced a lot," he said.
"But since our boys are tall they get a little more extra bounce than most. So if it does bounce then we will have to wait and see. If it doesn't bounce to the knee height then we should pitch it up." Meanwhile, Peter Ingram, the New Zealand batsman, has said his career saw a transformation after he learned from watching Virender Sehwag, the India opener, bat. He said: "I played for five years for Central Districts, and averaged 17. I used to try and move my feet heaps and block too much. And then I just kept watching Sehwag, if he can not move his feet and score runs then so can I. Since then I have averaged about 65."
* Agencies