Aggression, discipline key to tame India: Vettori

Hamilton: Outplayed in the one-dayers, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettor today said his team will have to put up an aggressive performance to avoid being blown off the park by the rampaging Indians in the Test series.

"If you look at the Indian top-order, it is very impressive through their weight of games and weight of runs. We know we are up against it, but we always fancy ourselves in our own conditions," Vettori said in the pre-match press conference today.

"It is going to be a real test for us and we are going to need a lot of guys within our team, not just one or two, stepping up to give ourselves a chance," he said.

Vettori said apart from being aggressive, his team had to be disciplined to be able to make an impact.

"You have got to take them on. The war of attrition probably won't work. I think we have got to be aggressive but in saying that, we have got to be disciplined. Those are the things we didn't quite get right in the one-day series. We didn't stick at our plans for long enough. In a Test match you just have to do that, otherwise a side like India will blow you off the park," he added.

Vettori said he expects to play on fair tracks that offer some help to his seamers.

"We are not necessarily concerned about the grass. We want some more pace in it. That is what we had at Eden Park and it played to our advantage. When you go to India, you don't expect green seamers and as when you come to New Zealand, you don't expect flat, dry wickets. We just want something that is fair but has a little bit of pace in it," Vettori said. "Flat wickets are definitely an advantage to India and that is not something that we would really want to play on," he added.

The 30-year-old Kiwis captain, who needs just 14 sticks to complete the grand double of 3000 runs and 300 Test wickets, expected the wicket to be flat.

"I think it will be pretty flat. There is a little bit of live grass on it but generally it is a pretty good deck here. But we will have to wait and see how it shapes up," he said.

Vettori said the Kiwis will draw confidence from the consolation win in the fifth and final one-dayer and India's Test record here.

"We can take some confidence into this series knowing that India haven't done that well here. But this is one of the better batting line-ups you will see and it is complemented by some very good bowlers", he said.

"So, they will fancy themselves after their performance in the one-dayers. We have to play very, very well to beat these guys, regardless of their history here," Vettori said. Vettori said New Zealand would utilise James Franklin more as a batsman, than a bowler.

"We want Frankie to bat at six tomorrow as that is his preferred role. He probably won't have as big a role with the ball as he has had in the past. He won't be expected to bowl 20-25 overs an innings.

"He will be needed to do the job, probably with the new ball or the newish ball. We really want to maximise his batting abilities. He is in fantastic form and he feels comfortable as a batter and that's the role we want to use him in," he said.