A landmark Test to start a landmark season

Match facts

September 22-26, 2016 Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)

Big Picture

There was a time until recently when India had whitewashed series’ longer than two Tests only twice in the history of their Test cricket. Then they went on back-to-back trips to England and Australia, lost everything there and decided they needed to fix their pitches back home. Since 2012, India have whitewashed Australia, were denied a similar treatment of South Africa by weather and are entering a season looking so dominant at home they can even win all 13 Tests.

It is not too difficult to imagine how. Their confidence has soared thanks to the wins. The quality is there too. R Ashwin averages 20.92 at home, Ravindra Jadeja 15.70. They take a wicket every eight overs. Jadeja chokes the batsmen with relentless accuracy and pace, Ashwin slits their throats with sharp action on the ball. Amit Mishra, the third spinner in the attack, is capable on turning tracks. And the groundsmen are now playing ball. This 13-Test season could potentially establish playing Test cricket in India as the toughest challenge in cricket today.

The first of the 13 Tests, also India’s 500th, starts in Kanpur. There could be no place further from home for New Zealand. Despite it being September, it is oppressively hot, still and humid. The pitch is cracked and dry, ripe for the spinners although the groundsmen don’t expect a repeat of Nagpur last year. It is a city where both the teams are stuck indoors: there is not much to do outside and no outsiders are allowed to visit even the restaurants in their hotel.

Before they lost to South Africa, New Zealand were being considered the team best placed of the four visiting India this season. They have three spinners and reverse-swing bowlers, but they have the experience of winning only two Tests in India, the last of those in 1988. They have the ingredients, albeit raw, but they will have to discover a way to win in India; they don’t have anybody passing it on to them. While they are a team that has begun to live up to its potential in limited-overs cricket, of late they have shown a bit of fear of the big occasion. And this, with them expected to do better than they have done in recent times in India, is a big occasion.

Form guide

India DWDWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand LDWWL

In the spotlight

On a pitch that has cracks, a pitch that is expected to break up, the toss …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com