India whitewash New Zealand: The need to be realistic in a fresh start

Head coach Rahul Dravid's words meant that India were under no illusions about their facile win in the three-match T20I series against a tired and depleted New Zealand and this attitude may prove to be important in their upcoming two-Test series that has much higher stakes.

After India's defeat to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, there were rumblings about the country which hosts the most prestigious and high profile T20 league having ironically fallen behind most top teams in the format. While the toss was not kind to the 2007 T20 World Cup champions - India lost the toss against New Zealand and in their opening defeat to Pakistan - their batting and a rather uncharacteristically loose fielding effort made it look like they were gasping for air against the two opponents in their group who were expected to pose a challenge. Did they? You mean in meaningless series 72 hours after a WC final defeat with 3 games in 5 days playing a team with 10 days rest in their home conditions? https://t.co/jldmmH58YZ

In both matches, India's opening combinations failed to fire. While captain Virat Kohli scored 57 against Pakistan at No.3, it came off 49 balls and he was dismissed just as he was looking to accelerate in the last four overs of the innings. Their middle order was sluggish and when it came to bowling, India could not handle the conditions and both their opponents strolled to victory.