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Indian team leaves for New Zealand

By Our Sports Reporter

Kolkata DEC. 1 . Indian cricket coach John Wright felt that the coming tour of New Zealand would put into perspective India's preparedness for the World Cup.

Wright, speaking to the news persons before the Indian team's departure to New Zealand from the Netaji Subhas Bose International Airport here on Sunday morning, said it is time to prepare for the World Cup and the seven one-dayers would be especially important, as it "will give us the chance to work on our weaknesses."

The coach said the series against the Kiwis will thus be very crucial, as the team would get a chance to improve upon the worrying factors in both bowling and fielding of the side.

New Zealand side is very professional and a tough customer at home, said the coach, adding that the host has done reasonably well against Australia and South Africa and would be high on confidence while taking on India.

A 16-member team led by captain Sourav Ganguly left for a 47-day tour down under and will be playing two Tests and seven one-day Internationals.

The coach felt that the pace quartet of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra and Tinu Yohanan along with the all-rounder Sanjay Bangar will have to make the best of the conditions, which are quite different from the sub-continent with the ball working a bit off the pitch and in the air.

With the tracks hard and bouncy it will be a good test for the Indian speedsters. Wright was quick to add that the bowling and fielding are the two departments in which the team has to work very hard and the Kiwis will just be the right opponent to test this on.

Talking about the second part of the tour which will have the seven one-dayers starting on December 26, he said that with the World Cup round the corner the performance at New Zealand will ``definitely add to the credentials for being selected'' for the quadrennial contest scheduled early next year. The first Test starts on December 12 at Basin Reserve in Wellington.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India president, Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya was present at the airport to see the team off. The president also had a separate meeting with the three players — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly - ostensibly to discuss the `players' terms'.

Without divulging anything about the discussion, the president later said that BCCI was handling the issue with International Cricket Council with utmost priority.

He added that the panel formed by the ICC to tackle the issues relating to players' terms and imaging is likely to meet soon in India later this month. He, however, did not specify the date or venue of the said meeting.

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