India ready to make another mark in NZ

Galle, Perth, Trent Bridge, Johannesburg, Kingston, Rawalpindi, Multan, Adelaide, Headingley, Port-of-Spain, and Kandy. The venues of India's memorable overseas victories in the 21st century include all but one of the major Test nations. New Zealand remains the only country in which India have not won a Test since they became competitive away from the subcontinent. India's solitary Test-series success in New Zealand was four decades ago, their last Test triumph here was in 1976, and their last tour in 2002-03 ended in a disastrous 2-0 rout. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men created history over the last two weeks by winning their first ever one-day series in New Zealand, and another such opportunity lies ahead of them.

A lot will depend on how successfully India ignore history.Sehwag has made a living out of forgetting the previous ball he has faced.Of late, this team has made a mockery of history and reputation. They were supposed to be the worst of the big teams at the World Twenty20, they were supposed to lose easily in the ODIs in Australia, they were not supposed to win a Test there.

"I am not bothered about whether we have won here or not," Dhoni said. "I am just bothered about the things we need to do over here as a team. We are not thinking about what happened in the past. I am not great when it comes to stats, so that really helps."

India have the right mix, the conditions are good. They have players to whom history means nothing, players who have suffered and have lessons to share, and they have players who are very good at putting the past behind them. From tomorrow, they will look to set right what they believe is an aberration.