INDIA VS NEWZELAND SERIES:Fast tracks may backfire on New Zealand says Wadekar

 Former Indian skipper and coach Ajit Wadekar firmly believes that the New Zealand cricket's attempt to prepare fast pitches during the forthcoming home series against India may backfire as the visitors now have a better new ball attack than last time.“Personally I feel, it would be a big mistake on part of the New Zealand cricket authorities to prepare fast wickets as the Indian pace attack is as lethal as any in the world. Moreover our feared batting line-up can handle their fast bowlers better than their batters can. As the conditions over there would be similar to the one we encounter in England, the chances of their plans backfiring on them are more,” Wadekar told Cricketnext.com on Monday.“After the retirement of one of the fastest bowlers in the world Shane Bond, the Black Caps have struggled to find a proper replacement while the current lot of experienced bowlers like Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills have been struggling with injuries and are faced with the danger of breaking down frequently, giving the impression that their bowling is not as formidable as it used to be a couple of seasons ago,” Wadekar pointed out.When asked to predict the outcome of the tour (both One-Day and Test series), Wadekar, who successfully led his team to their first ever overseas wins in the West Indies and England way back in 1971, had no hesitation in pinning his hopes on India as they had a better balanced side than their rivals.“The team under Dhoni is perfectly balanced with a fine batting line-up and according to me they will start off the tour as firm favorites and I will not be surprised if they finish the tour with a flourish. Zaheer (Khan) and Ishant (Sharma) have been doing a fantastic job for the team in recent times and with most of the wickets round the world getting slower – the spinners -- Harbhajan (Singh), Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha – will certainly play a major role in the series,” Wadekar elaborated.

“Even though we lost the series during India’s last tour, the home team will find it difficult to beat the confidence boosting Indian team this time around as the coach-captain combination of Gary Kirsten and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are well known to do their home work quite well before embarking on any tour,” he added.“With the amount of experience we have in our batting and the improvement shown by our fielders in both Tests and One-Dayers and the confidence they have acquired in the past year or so (ten ODI wins in a row) suggests they are riding a roller-coaster ride and are perhaps in the right frame of mind to take on the Black Caps at their own backyard,” he said.Brushing aside the concern expressed in a section of the media for lack of practice matches before the Test series, the former southpaw said, it was not a major drawback as the Test team was very rich in experience.“Ideally any visiting team to New Zealand should have at least two practice games before the Test series but for this team it should not be a major worry as they are very rich in experience. Batsmen like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have enormous experience behind them and a couple of net sessions should be more than enough for them to get used to the bounce and swing of the wickets,” Wadekar said.

“However, youngsters will certainly find it difficult to get acclimatized to the conditions but I am sure the seniors, particularly Sachin Tendulkar, who will be part of the One-Day squad as well can give vital tips to put the youngsters at ease,” he added.