MUMBAI, SEPT 27: Rarely will any touring cricket team arouse as much interest in the coming days as the New Zealanders, who touched down this morning to the beat of unseasonal thundershowers. Ever heard of a cricket team being assisted by a technical advisor, a player analyst and a computer data analyst besides the coach and manager? Well, the Kiwis have arrived with an interesting bunch of personnel who would be the guiding force for the team during its 53-day stint in India, when they feature in three Tests and five one-day matches respectively.Ex-New Zealand captain Jeff Crowe, who makes his debut as manager, termed the hi-profile back-up for the team, which began operations with the recent tour of England, as `signs of professionalism'. Dwelling more on the subject, the 41-year-old Crowe, said, ``New Zealand cricket has spent a lot of time and effort in creating the right environment and infrastructure for the players to perform to their best of abilities. The players are obviously enjoying it and feelit helps their game. It has been quite effective.''So where does Mr Jeff Crowe fit in? ``My job is to manage everything for the team. I'm not supposed to offer advice to the team unless the captain Stephen Fleming and coach David Trist ask me to do so. Only then, I will do whatever I want to.''Armed with an innovative support cast for the team and riding on a wave of success after their memorable 2-1 Test series victory over England last month, the New Zealand think-tank of Fleming and new coach Trist spoke of living up to the challenges that lay ahead (read designer tracks) in India.``It would be unreasonable to say that India would not be starting as favourites. But they would not be clear or dominating favourites. We are not here to just roll over and get beaten easily though our record in India is not great,'' opined Trist, on his first assignment as coach since taking over from Australian Steve Rixon. ``India has a fine set of players and is a proven side. But we are optimistic of a win in theseries and break fresh ground like we did in England. It will be a great challenge for us if we can get close to that goal.''Fleming, who has toured the country before in 1995 as member of Lee Germon's side and the next year as part of the World Cup squad, felt the team will have to improve upon their batting displays. ``It (the series) is going to be very tough. Our batting was not very great in England. We have to bat very well against the Indian spinners who are expected to be the main wicket-takers. It is a different challenge. But I am quite confident it will be a good series.''Trist's latest tryst with India had been during the 1996 World Cup when he turned out as Holland's coach. His earlier experience was as a member of Graham Dowling's team, three decades ago. This time round, Trist is keen to stamp the changing face of New Zealand cricket which according to him includes, ``embracing the culture besides playing entertaining cricket of quality. We also see it as a great opportunity to developour cricket.'' And he made the right gestures too by signing off to his hotel room with a Namaste to the motley group of scribes.THE NEW ZEALAND TEAMStephen Fleming (captain), Dion Nash (vice-captain), Nathan Astle, Matthew Bell, Chris Cairns, Chris Drum, Chris Harris, Matthew Horne, Craig McMillan, Shayne O'Connor, Adam Parore (WK), Andrew Penn, Craig Spearman, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman. Coach: David Trist. Technical Advisor: Ashley Ross; Player Analyst: Gilbert Enoka; Manager: Jeff Crowe; Physiotherapist: Mark Harrison; Computer Data Analyst: Peter Mayell.THE KIWI TOUR ITINERARYSep 30-Oct 2: vs India A at Pune.Oct 5-7: vs Board President's XI at Jodhpur.Oct 10-14: 1st Test at Mohali.Oct 17-19: vs Ranji champions Karnataka at Bangalore.Oct 22-26: 2nd Test at Kanpur.Oct 29-Nov 2: 3rd Test at Ahmedabad.Nov 5: 1st One-Day International at Rajkot.Nov 8: 2nd ODI at Hyderabad.Nov 11: 3rd ODI atGwalior.Nov 14: 4th ODI at Guwahati.Nov 17: 5th ODI at Delhi.
