New Zealand coach Andy Moles and batsman Ross Taylor have rated India as the best team in the world ahead of the series' first Twenty20 International starting in Christchurch on Wednesday.
Both Moles and Taylor felt that India have performed consistently in the last 12 months beating the top teams in the world.
"They have beaten Australia consistently and should be regarded as the world's best team at present," Taylor was quoted as saying by The Press.
Moles said that though India did not do well in the last series at 2002-03 in Christchurch, having won 16 of their 17 matches since September will give them the boost needed for this series. India are also the reigning World Twenty20 champions.
Unlike the last time, Taylor said that this time India won't be greeted with green wickets.
"The standard of the pitches has improved considerably since then. Those were the days when medium pacers could just bowl dibbly dobbers and get wickets, but that's not happening in New Zealand nowadays," he said.
But Moles felt that the India will still have trouble adjusting to the different bounce in this country, as opposed to the sub-continent.
{{/usCountry}}But Moles felt that the India will still have trouble adjusting to the different bounce in this country, as opposed to the sub-continent.
{{/usCountry}}"Mind you they have batsmen of the calibre of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag opening the batting, who can be explosive no matter what the conditions, so we just have to raise our game and execute our plans to counter them," he said.