Christchurch, Feb. 22: Indian coach Gary Kirsten is not unduly worried about the seaming pitches in New Zealand and said that his team was well prepared to adapt to the situations that they may encounter during the tour.

Kirsten said that India had a plan in place for every challenge which they could face during the 47-day tour and it was just the question of doing the planing and basics right.

"We are aware of what to expect and are planning for that. Every wicket around the world might well be different. You are not going to find two wickets that are exactly the same.

"So we are not really focusing on the wickets. But we are doing the work we need to do. We are looking to adapt to the situations that we are confronted with. The team is well-balanced and our seamers have done particularly well in the last year," Kirsten said here on Sunday.

"Everyone’s talking a lot about the wickets, but the wickets I saw in the games against the West Indies seemed to play really well. It is not something that will concern us too much," he added.

The former South Africa opening batsman chose to downplay India’s miserable show during the previous tour in 2002-03 saying, "The last tour here was six-seven years ago. We don’t focus on the past. We are focusing on the future and the tour that we are on. In our team meetings we are certainly not talking about what happened here six years ago."

Kirsten attributed India’s improved show to formulation of proper strategy followed by its implementation.

"We played 17 games of cricket since September last year and lost one. So we are happy with the way the performances have gone. But this team doesn’t focus on performances. We focus on what we need to do on a daily basis. If we plan well enough, we will give ourselves the best chance of winning. But we know this game and that anything can happen out in the middle," he said.

"The balance is good. But the game of cricket is designed such that any time you can have a bad hour or bad couple of hours. We are very humble around that fact and just make sure that we do what we need to do. We know we need to do certain things to set ourselves up to win a game of cricket.

"We spend a lot of time on game awareness, strategy and how we are going to set up a win. You don’t just walk out onto the park and just because you have a good side on paper win a game of cricket. Someone’s got to work hard out there. Everyone wants to be a game breaker and make a contribution. It is very satisfying to see this attitude in the players," Kirsten added.

However, the 41-year-old coach knows that the journey against the Kiwis is going to be a tough one and insisted there is no question of taking New Zealand lightly as they are a tough side to beat at home. "We know what they are capable of. They are a resilient team and in my experience they play very well at home. They will be a formidable opposition and well prepared. We wouldn’t be taking them lightly.

"But at the same time we know that if we stick to our processes well and do what we need to in terms of planning and preparation, and then execute them, we can be a difficult side to beat," Kirsten said. — PTI