Test previews / Ed Hawkins / 11 November 2010 /

India were saved by Harbhajan Singh from a surprise defeat against New Zealand in the first Test. Ed Hawkins expects them to improve second time around on Thursday

Team news
New Zealand, the nearly men of world cricket, have been at it again. Denied a [190.0] victory over India in the first Test, Daniel Vettori's men go into game two with confidence on the rise.

After replying to India's first-innings 487 in Ahmedabad with an impressive 459, the Kiwis cranked up the pressure on the home side by reducing them to 65-5. A century from Harbhajan Singh and 91 from VVS Laxman ensured a draw, however.

It was a familiar so near, yet so far story from New Zealand. Over the last 10 years they have proven to be masters of getting themselves into unlikely winning positions only to fall short.
James Franklin comes in to bolster the New Zealand outfit. The Gloucestershire man has not played Tests for 18 months but is needed because of an injury to Hamish Bennett, who has a groin injury. Judging by Bennett's clunky action, it looks a decent swap.

Chris Martin, whose five second-innings wickets put India on the brink is an admirable sort while with the bat Jesse Ryder and Kane Williamson, centurions both, are ones to watch.

India are likely to be unchanged. The only room for manoeuvre would be with new ball bowler Sreesanth. Ishant Sharma could come in if the India selectors feel Sreesanth was a little wayward at almost three-and-a-half an over. But it would be pretty harsh.

Venue and conditions
The Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad has never staged a Test match before. And it has hosted only three one-day internationals. Still, judging from those three games, the wicket, unsurprisingly, looks good for batting. The last game between India and Australia saw 697 runs scored. Sachin Tendulkar made 175 from 141 balls.

Indeed, in the previous first-class match played there - more than 12 months ago - Tamil Nadu accumulated a massive 785 in reply to Hyderabad's 347. Unsurprisingly, the last five first-class games - all in the Ranji Trophy - have ended in draws. Zaheer Khan took eight wickets for Mumbai to force the last result, against Uttar Pradesh.

The weather forecast is not as good as one would expect. Light rain is forecast for the first three days although day four is expected to be clear.

Match odds
In the first Test this column successfully advised a back-to-lay of the draw from the heights of [4.10]. It is tempting to do the same with the stalemate priced at [2.80] and runs, again, likely to be easy to come by in first-innings. New Zealand are [14.00].

Certainly we would have confidence that if India were to bat first, the draw price would head south pretty quickly. Not so New Zealand. There is a nagging doubt that they are not capable of producing back-to-back performances.

One of the reasons for that is that India may not let them. Often a laconic outfit against sides they are expected to beat to a pulp, they were given a nasty shock in Ahmedabad and are unlikely to make the same mistake twice. They are notoriously bad in the first Test of a home series.

In the last five years India have played nine Test series at home and failed to win the first match in five of them. In four they drew and won the second. In one they lost and won the second.

India do not make much appeal at prices as short as [1.73] so we must hope that they bat first, pile on the runs and they drift with the draw price coming the other way. Alternatively, and this is probably the wisest option, back the draw with a view to laying off if India bat first.

Top batsman
Virender Sehwag's 173 blitzed the formguide in game one. He is [4.00] for top bat. Tendulkar is [4.50]. Both men are even money for a 50 in the first dig. Ryder and Williamson are [6.00] and [4.30] respectively.

Recommended Bet:
If India bat first back-to-lay the draw

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