India can’t afford to take New Zealand lightly: Madan Lal

After a successful tour of Australia, India, captained by the enigmatic Virat Kohli are now scheduled to lock horns with New Zealand in a couple of limited-overs series. The Men in Blue’s campaign starts with a five-match ODI series followed by three T20Is in Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton respectively. Napier, Mount Maunganui, Hamilton and Wellington will play host to the five One Dayers.

All the encounters are day-night fixtures in order to suit the Indian timings. They would be high on confidence after remaining unbeaten in all the three series’ against the Aussies. In the meantime, Madan Lal, the former Indian cricketer, reckons the Black Caps are likely to pose a massive threat to the visiting team as they have a balanced unit and shouldn’t be taken lightly by any means.

It will be advantage India in New Zealand

“New Zealand is a tough side. I think they will give a tough fight to India because they have a very balanced team and also have experienced players in the side. It will be better for India to face a tougher team ahead of the World Cup.

When you play matches against these teams, it only benefits the team. They have a quality batting line-up and their bowling attack is also very good,” Madan Lal was quoted as saying in India Today.

“I think, it will be advantage India in New Zealand. They will be confident after beating Australia in their own backyard. We have also given them a tough fight in the last few India-New Zealand series. But we can not take them lightly,” he added.

Back in January-February 2014, India toured New Zealand and their journey turned out to be a horrendous one. They lost 4-0 in the five-match ODI series and managed to tie one game at the Eden Park in Auckland. Thereafter, the team, captained by MS Dhoni, slumped in the opening Test by 40 runs and though they drew the second Test, they lost the series 1-0.

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