It Could Well Be An Engaging Battle Of Attrition

The India-New Zealand match-up may boil down to strategy and execution of plans; catching in the slips will be of great importance

- S. Dinakar

You step into Basin Reserve and memories of another day flash before your eyes.

The year was 2002 and India was taking on New Zealand in the first Test of the series at this breathtaking ground flanked by hills.

Beautiful and brutal

In the middle, the duel between the gladiatorial Shane Bond, bowling with the wind, and the ice-cool Rahul Dravid, was both beautiful and brutal.

Bond — athletic, rhythmic and hostile — got the ball to climb viciously and Dravid, a combination of heart and technique, rose on his toes, took the weight off the bottom hand and kept the lifters down with skill and class.

It was a combat of searing intensity. Dravid’s 76 was worth more than a hundred but India eventually lost the Test.

That was also a Basin Reserve track that offered assistance to the seamers in both the innings.

Subsequently, the pitch here has changed in character. These days, much about dishing out winning cricket at the Basin is how a team performed in the second innings.

There is a covering of grass on the pitch for the forthcoming first Test and the two teams should be close to being bowled out in their first innings by day two.