Virender Sehwag in Hyderabad, on Thursday

Hyderabad: The common perception about Daniel Vettori’s side at the start of the series was that they didn’t have enough firepower to take 20 Indian wickets. Apart from the overall inexperience of the New Zealand bowling attack, their meek surrender at the hands of Bangladesh was the chief reason behind such views.

And the Black Caps were further hurt when fast bowler Hamish Bennett was sent back with a groin injury. On Thursday, Vettori, speaking at a media conference, revealed another bad news when he said that all-rounder Jesse Ryder’s role in the match had been reduced to that of a batsman.

Asked about the status of Ryder’s stiff calf muscle, Vettori said: “Jesse’s getting better… I don’t think he will bowl in this Test match, but he will be available to bat.”

The Black Caps had used Ryder’s medium-pace to fill the fifth bowler’s slot in the Ahmedabad Test, where he picked up the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.

Speaking on the ideal bowling combination, the New Zealand captain said: “We’ll certainly look at playing two spinners for this game. The wicket obviously is reasonably flat, but it will have a little more pace in it than the one in Ahmedabad.”

“India have done it for a long time and have been successful with it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for us. We have to replace Bennett anyway… So we’ll have a look at all our seamers and see what the right combination is.”

Asked how big a challenge it was to counter Dhoni & Co. in Indian conditions, Vettori said: “I think that’s the big challenge for teams coming to India — to take 20 wickets… Because of the formidable batting line-up and also, the nature of the wickets. We managed to do it in the first Test, but that’s been and gone. We have to do it in this one, and that’s our aim. We have to take 20 wickets.”