1st Twenty20 New Zealand v India, Christchurch, Feb 25, 2009

Christchurch: Ross Taylor consider India above South Africa and Australia and feel MS Dhoni's men should be rated number one in the world for their consistent performance over a period of time.

India defeated Australia in the Test series and followed it up with another triumph against England in both Tests and One-dayers.

They carried on the good work with a 4-1 victory in Sri Lanka. India are currently on a roll and though they may not have won in New Zealand in 41 years, Dhoni's team has the ability to put the record straight.

The last time India toured here they lost both the Test and One-day series but NZ's coach Moles feels with the talent and experience at India's disposal, they would prove to be difficult.

"They have got some very experienced players and they are obviously coached really well," said Moles.

Batsman Taylor agreed with his coach. "If you look at their performance over the last year and a half, I think they have done wonderfully well in all forms of the game," he said.

"They have beaten Australia at home (2-0) and beat Sri Lanka by a big margin recently. They have some exciting players who have performed consistently," said Taylor, who is the in-form batsman for New Zealand and shone in the recent One-day series against Australia that ended 2-2.

India couldn't have another of their intensive training sessions. Instead they trained indoors at the New Zealand High Performance Centre in the Lincoln University campus. But the nets had enough facilities for India to not complain at all. Their batsmen got a good hit, facing two bowling machines and other bowlers; and the bowlers got a good workout too.

India have not practised at the AMI Stadium, venue for the first Twenty20, but will now get to simulate match conditions at the ground on the eve of the match. After their routine practice at the Lincoln University on Tuesday, India will get to train there under lights.

Highlights of the match