Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming seems to imagine -- if you judge by his pre-Test comments -- that the second Test is the cricketing equivalent of what in chess would be the three move Fool's Mate; the moves being 1) Prepare fast track; 2) Put India in; 3) Bundle them out.

He's missing something, though -- just as in chess, so in cricket, for every move that white makes, black has a chance to make one too. And just as it is necessary for a team to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, it is equally necessary for that team to score at least one run more than the opposition puts on the board.

Countering the Fleming plan by batting with application is an obvious one -- but while we keep talking of whether the batting will live up to the challenge, there is another aspect that, to my mind, merits some consideration as well -- and that is the bowling.

Consider this: New Zealand walk out to bat in the first innings of the Wellington Test facing an Indian total of just 161. Here is how the game progresses:

Short ball outside off, creamed through backward point by Mark Richardson, Kiwis 4/0

Wide of off, slashed past where fourth slip should have been by Richardson, Kiwis 11/0.

Wide of off, Vincent slams it through backward point, 29/0.

Too full on leg stump, Richardson flicks behind square, 34/1

Short outside off, slammed past point, 41/1

Wide of off, edged by Fleming through the area where fourth slip should have been, 49/1.

At this point, the Kiwis have already wiped off 1/4th of the Indian total. And 24 of the 49 runs scored thus far have been gifts.

I could go on, through the rest of the innings, but the point should be clear: Just as it is imperative for the batsmen to hang in there and work hard at scoring runs, it is equally vital for the bowlers to stop gifting away the hard-won runs the batsmen put on the board. And for the captain to plug that gap in the slips -- I counted four uncontrolled shots going through that space for four, before I gave up counting.

The Kiwi skipper's game plan has a flaw the Indians can exploit: Thanks to a six-week strike, none of their batsmen have had much match practice. The Kiwi batting has a brittle look to it. And in this context, preparing a blistering fast track could be a double-edged sword -- on such a deck, even the slower Indian bowlers will get that little extra edge to their bowling, and it is up to the Kiwis to then show that they can bat.

The weak spot is obvious, so is the way to exploit it. It will be very interesting to see if the Indians have spent thinking time on this aspect.