India might be in woeful form right now but New Zealand captain Ross Taylor says the recent poor run would make Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men all the more dangerous when the two sides clash in a do-or-die encounter of the ODI cricket tri-series in Dambulla on Wednesday.
"I think it almost makes them dangerous, they didn't play that well against us in the first game, and then they came back and played well against Sri Lanka, obviously they didn't play as well as they would have liked to play against Sri Lanka in the last match, that makes them dangerous," Taylor said in the pre-match press conference.
"I would not read too much on the Indian side. They are a good batting unit. They have played a lot of cricket. I am sure with their experience they will come firmer and we just need to put pressure on them," he added.
India have been handed a couple of embarrassing defeats in the ongoing tri-series and would be out if they lose on Wednesday. Dhoni's men lost by 200 runs to New Zealand in the lung-opener before being reduced to 103 and then thrashed by eight wickets by Sri Lanka.
But Taylor said every side goes through such phases and New Zealand cannot afford to take the Indians lightly.
"Obviously they didn't play that well against us in the first game and then they came back and played very well against Sri Lanka. Obviously they did not play as well as they would have liked against Sri Lanka in the last match. I think we cannot really think about that too much and just got to work ourselves," he said.
"I think a lot of the batsmen in their side probably have not scored as many runs as they would have liked. But they have scored runs in the past or in the warm up game. So it is not all doom and gloom for them," he added.
On whether India's pathetic batting form would work to New Zealand's advantage, Taylor said Dhoni and Co are not the only ones struggling in the seaming conditions here.
"I think every top order has struggled, not just India. We (also) struggled at the top and Sri Lanka had their troubles as well. It has done lot of things. I guess their batting is under pressure but I would say even we were under a bit of pressure," he explained.
Taylor said his bowlers would continue to pitch it up against the Indians, who are known to be susceptible to the rising ball.
"I guess we would have to wait and see how the pitch is like and see how the bounce is. I think it is a fresh wicket. And most of the wickets that we played on turned a lot than we expected and then bounced a lot," he said.
"But since our boys are tall they get a little extra bounce than most. So, if it does bounce then we will have to wait and see. If it doesn't bounce to the knee height then we should pitch it up," he added.
Taylor said his inexperienced side has not done too badly considering it was without proven performers such as Daniel Vettori, Jesse Ryder and Bredon McCullum.
"Probably when we came in we did not have a experienced side. That was part of the deal that we wanted to give other guys experience and also to come here, win and play well.
"Scott (Styris) and I scored runs. But we only scored runs once. It is going to be 12 days since we have actually had a bat. Obviously the game Sri Lanka and it rained for two days. We did not get to bat. It is going to be a little more anxiety probably more the fact that we have not had a bat for 12 days than the actual game itself," he said.
On the status of side's fitness, Taylor said Kane Williamson has a bicep niggle and would be observed more before a final decision is reached.
"(Martin) Guptill is fit and raring to go. Kane Williamson has got a bit of bicep injury and he will be under observation. He did not bowl or throw yesterday. We will have to wait and see how it goes. And if he gets through that, we will just have to wait and see on selection," he said.
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