Former skipper Kapil Dev said New Zealand may find it difficult to counter Indian conditions and pitches during the forthcoming series but warned Sourav Ganguly and his men not to get too complacent.

"The conditions will be tough for them, but the Kiwis have the knack of rising to the occasion and cannot be taken lightly," he said.

Kapil, however, did not agree that India were beaten convincingly by New Zealand when they toured Down Under last. "It's just that New Zealand exploited conditions and pitches at home to the hilt."

Blaming the pitches for India's dismal show on the trip, he said: "nobody got more than 150 runs.".

Kapil said Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, who have not excelled in English county cricket, need to focus more but pointed out that they were "very young".

"They have just started playing. They need to get adjusted to different conditions and get more mature. They need to play a few more matches," Kapil said.

He expressed happiness about the current crop of seamers in India, saying Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra have been bowling well, with Ajit Agarkar filling up whenever required.

Praising veteran speedster Javagal Srinath, Kapil said, "we don't have to talk too much about Srinath. He has been proving himself time and again".

He also praised off-spinner Harbhajan Singh saying the Turbanator has been bowling wonderfully well.