Moles banking on newcomers to spring a surprise

Christchurch: New Zealand coach Andy Moles is banking on the unknown faces in the team and some bounce on the pitch to destabilise India in the forthcoming series that starts Wednesday with a Twenty20 international.

Moles said New Zealand have a few surprises up their sleeves in the form of newcomers.

"We have got quite a few new faces that the Indians wouldn't have seen. (Martin) Guptill did really well in Australia, as did (Grant) Elliott. (Neil) Broom is coming on as well and improving with each game. We are a developing team and it's really exciting to be involved with the team at this moment," said Moles at a press conference.

The former Warwickshire batsman also hoped the youngsters could catch India off guard with their performance.

"It will be nice if we can catch the Indians out because they don't know too much about some of our younger players coming through. But again, we have to execute our plans and make sure we play good cricket," he said.

The 48-year-old Englishman said they have a strategy in place to counter Indian batsmen.

"They are coming here from Sri Lanka where the wickets, like in India, can be a little low. So if we get the ball to bounce a bit, they could find it hard to play here. So we need to bowl well with the new ball."

However, Moles agreed that to make things work, they would have to bowl well and in the right areas.

"But having said that, in (Gautam) Gambhir and (Virender) Sehwag they have got two of the most explosive players in the world. They are an excellent cricket team. It's all about whether we can raise our game and carry out the plans that we want to put in place. If we do that, then we believe we will be competitive," said Moles, who replaced John Bracewell as New Zealand coach.

Moles was not inclined to read too much into India's dismal away record.

"Certainly in the past, the Indian teams haven't toured too well. But I think they have put a lot of that to bed over the last couple of years. They have started to tour well. They did really well in Australia last year."

Asked whether he fancies defeating India, the New Zealand coach said, "We have got Zack Hitchcock who is our scouting man. We have got a meeting tonight which will probably run for a couple of hours. We will go through all the stuff that he has compiled about the Indians playing over the last couple of series. Obviously, we have got John Wright in our camp who is very experienced with the Indian team.