KOLKATA - Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has warned New Zealand to be prepared for a tough cricket series when they tour India this October.
‘It will not be an easy series for the Kiwis,’ Ganguly told reporters after a ceremony in his honour given by Calcutta’s mayor.
‘We are tough opponents on home soil and we have been playing well of late. We beat New Zealand at the World Cup as well.’
Ganguly’s team will get a chance to atone for their dismal tour of New Zealand late last year when they were thrashed 2-0 in the test series and 5-2 in the one-dayers.
But the Indian captain, who led the team to the World Cup final in South Africa in March, ruled out making tailor-made tracks to help their main strike bowlers, leg-spinner Anil Kumble and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
‘We don’t play on turners any more. For the last two years we have not been preparing wickets that give significant turn. We have been preparing more pace-friendly wickets,’ he said.
India’s pace attack has looked more complete this year with left-arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra earning permanent places to support the experienced Javagal Srinath.
Meanwhile, Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand will have to hold their breath, literally, when they bat and bowl on dusty spinning wickets during the tour of India.
The northern industrial town of Kanpur, which is due to host the first of the two Tests from October 8, was yesterday rated the second-most polluted city in India by federal environment agencies.
That Kanpur may forego the Test because the rain-ravaged Green Park stadium may not be ready in time to hold the match will hardly come as a relief to the tourists.
Ahmebabad, a stand-by venue, is the most polluted city in India with air pollution levels 300 per cent higher than the accepted standards, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report.
The northern city of Mohali, which hosts the second Test from October 16, has relatively clean air. New Zealand played Tests in Mohali, Kanpur and Ahmedabad during their last tour of India in 1999.
Situation worsens
The CPCB report said the situation in Ahmedabad and Kanpur had worsened in the last few years.
Big cities like Bangalore, Kokata, Hyderabad and Mumbai, which will host matches in the subsequent one-day series also featuring world champions Australia, all exceed the accepted pollution levels.
New Delhi will not be hosting any international match this season.__