The four Kiwis India must guard against

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: India take on the Kiwis at Ahmedabad in the first of the two Test matches on Wednesday. Despite their awesome home record, the Indians will be involved in a scrap. For the Kiwis are fighters. And in Stephen Fleming they possess an astute leader who has guided the team to considerable success in their recent sojourns to the sub-continent.<br /><br />The trip to Sri Lanka being a case in point. They also have Mark Richardson, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan who form the lynchpin of the Kiwi batting.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Stephen Fleming</span>: His captaincy apart, Fleming will also be a genuine threat to the Indian bowling attack. Known to play spin and pace with trademark elegance, he can also bat for long periods. He showed that during his epic 274 not out against Sri Lanka in Colombo. His skills aside, the New Zealand skipper is one of the southpaw brigade, a tribe which Indian bowlers detest bowling to. He didn''t score too many runs in the tour game against India A at Rajkot. But with an average of 45.42 in India, the man born on Fool''s day is not someone Ganguly and gang can fool around with.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Mark Richardson</span>: Anybody possessing Hunter as his middle-name must be feared. The man boasts of an average of 48.73 in his brief 24-Test career. Another left-hander and an opener at that, Richardson will be entrusted with the double job of blunting the new ball threat of Zaheer and keeping spin twins Harbhajan and Kumble at bay. With an abundance of patience and water-tight defence, Richardson''s performance will be crucial for the Kiwis to succeed. He showed his ability to play spin when he handled Murli Karthik with elan and got an industrious hundred against India A at Rajkot.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Nathan Astle</span>: An old adversary, this guy is flamboyance personified. Someone who loves to hit the ball on the rise square off the wicket, Astle''s affair with Indian wickets in Test cricket has been dispassionate. His modest average of 38.40 reflects that. But he loves the ground at Motera. His blistering century in the 1996 World Cup against England in the lung-opener is still talked about. Impetuosity, his bane for many a season has given way to prudence. And if he can curb his tendency to play with his bat around his front pad, something which was evident in the tour game at Rajkot where he scored 0 and 5, Astle could be a formidable foe to dislodge. If his batting fails, Fleming can rely on his medium pace bowling to break partnerships. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Craig McMillan</span>: Not for nothing do they call him the ''Gladiator''. Turmoil, poor eyesight, criticism, disease, this 27-year-old has seen it all. Without doubt the most talented stroke-maker in the New Zealand batting lineup, McMillan will be the key player in the Kiwi team apart from Fleming because of his ability to attack spinners. An insulin-dependent diabetic since the age of 16, a condition which has affected his eyesight, McMillan also has battled critics who have questioned his place in the team. He would be the first person to admit that an average of 26.25 in India doesn''t do justice to his talent. That is reason enough for the Indians to be careful.</div> </div>