Among all the players who played in the 2012 series, only six players are in the current Indian Test squad. Who are those six players and how have they performed since that 2-0 series triumph over the Kiwis who will be looking to create history when the series starts on Thursday.
Here are the 6 Indian players who were in the Test squad when New Zealand last toured India and how they fared in that series and since then in the Test arena:
Umesh Yadav
If there is one Indian bowler that has been on the fringes of the Indian side without ever really establishing himself in the Test side then it has to be Umesh Yadav. The fast bowler has the pace, ability to move the ball and the variety to trouble batsmen irrespective of conditions but he has never quite managed to do that consistently.
The 28-year-old played both Tests in that series and took five wickets. However, he has just played 11 Tests in the four years since the last time New Zealand toured India. Although he has looked threatening at times, he hasn’t managed to get a consistent run in the side and perform at the level which many expected he would.
58 wickets in 19 Tests aren’t bad but the fact that he is often very expensive goes against him. With pitches expected to assist spin and India having established Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami as the first-choice pacers, he is unlikely to start in the upcoming Test series.
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma is a name that divides opinion among Indian cricket fans. His ability to do the ridiculous and the sublime, sometimes simultaneously mean that he has the tendency to be inconsistent. However, since he has come a long way since the last time New Zealand toured India.
Although he was an unplaying member of the squad in that series, he has managed to establish himself as not just a regular member of the Indian pace attack but also the leader of the pace attack. The 28-year-old has played 72 Tests and picked in excess of 200 wickets and has managed to curb the inconsistency that plagued him at the start of his career.
With Kohli preferring a five-man bowling attack, which is likely to include three spinners, Ishant has managed to assert his authority and is one of the most consistent performers in the Test arena as far as the bowlers are concerned, even if his performances aren’t always out of the ordinary.
Ravichandran Ashwin
New Zealand’s last tour of India was only Ravichandran Ashwin’s third Test series and second at home. Although he was just coming through in international cricket, his tally of 18 wickets in two Tests against New Zealand gave a demonstration of just how lethal he can be on conditions that offer him some assistance.
Since then, he has played more than two dozen Tests, established himself as the side’s No.1 bowler and also a decent batsman in the longest format of the game. Although he hasn’t been able to replicate his home success overseas, he has been simply unplayable on surfaces which offer him even a hint of assistance.
With nearly 200 wickets to his name, he is well on his way towards becoming one of India’s best Test bowlers and having had a good start to the year, he will be hoping to etch his name into the record books with a successful series against New Zealand.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Cheteshwar Pujara was the leading run-scorer in the Test series when New Zealand last toured India with 216 and his 159 in the first Test was the highest score in the series. Since then however his career has not progressed the way he would have wanted to. Although he averaged in excess of 75 in Tests in 2012 and 2013, his form took a sharp decline since then.
He averaged just 24 in 10 Tests in 2014 but managed to avert the numbers last year when he averaged nearly 50 in 5 Tests. Although he hasn’t got off to a great start this year in Tests, he will be hoping his numbers for the calendar year and against New Zealand after an impressive performance in the Duleep Trophy.
His twin centuries in the tournament, which included an unbeaten double century and 166 helped his side claim the Duleep Trophy and also helped him become the youngest Indian player to score 10 first-class double centuries. He will be hoping to continue that good run in the upcoming series and cement his place once again.
Virat Kohli
The last time New Zealand toured India, Virat Kohli was just emerging as a Test batsman and had just eight Tests to his name at the start of that series. Since then he has established himself as one of the best batsmen of his generation and is currently captain of the Indian Test team.
Even he could not have predicted how far his career could have come. Although that Test series was at the start of his Test career, he has come through leaps and bounds since then. While his records in T20Is and ODIs are simply phenomenal, he is yet to translate that level of consistency in the longest format of the game.
In that series, he was only one of only two players to score in excess of 200 runs in the two-match Test series. In the three innings that he batted in, he scored at least a fifty in each innings and a century in the second Test as well to finish with an average of 106 in the Test series. With an average of 85 against the Kiwis in Test, Virat Kohli will be looking to continue his impressive form against the Black Caps.
Ajinkya Rahane
When the Black Caps last toured India, Ajinkya Rahane was in the Test squad but did not play in either of the two matches. Instead, he was pipped by Suresh Raina in the starting XI and had to wait till 2013 for his Test debut. And it is fair to say that the Test fortunes of Raina and Rahane have gone in completely opposite directions since then.
Ever since his Test debut in 2013, he has become India’s Mr. Reliable, the man for a tricky situation and has cemented that reputation on plenty of occasions. Whether it batting up the order due to conditions or form of other players or playing with the tail, Rahane has proven himself to be adept and will be looking to improve his already impressive record against New Zealand, who he will be facing for the first time at home in Tests.
Closing in on 2,000 Test runs for India, Rahane will be hoping to take his place at No.5 with the likely return of Cheteshwar Pujara to No.3. As the best performer in last year’s tour against India on pitches that are likely to similar to the ones in the upcoming series, India will be looking to Rahane to rescue or retaliate depending on the situation.
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