MOHALI, 15 October 2003 — India captain Saurav Ganguly says the team are not feeling the strain as they look for a face-saving victory in the second and final Test against New Zealand which starts today.
“We’re under no pressure,” Ganguly said this week after New Zealand, who have never won a Test series in India, drew the first match in Ahmedabad. India appeared to be on top for much of the Test but could not prevent Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan from saving the game with a dogged 103-run unbroken partnership for the seventh wicket. The home side take some positives into the second Test in Mohali.
India are likely to rely on their main weapon, the spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, in the second and final Test against New Zealand, coach John Wright has said.
The Indian spinners were unable to run through New Zealand’s second innings in the drawn first Test at Ahmedabad last week but Wright said yesterday the fault was not in his bowlers but in the placid track that offered them no assistance.
