New Zealand fight but India retain upper hand
Saturday, 6 November 2010
It was not the one-way traffic that was expected, but India were well on top after the second day in Ahmedabad. In an hour either side of the lunch break, New Zealand's spinners ripped through the Indian middle-order, before struggling to wipe out the tail, according to website cricinfo.
The fans had turned up hoping to see crowd-pleasing batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni, but it was Harbhajan Singh who kept them cheering by making his highest Test score, and eighth Test half-century, to push India towards 500. New Zealand lost two early wickets in their reply after which key batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, safely played out the final hour.
The New Zealand spinners had plenty of work to do on the first day, and there was even more responsibility on them today after debutant fast bowler Hamish Bennett picked up a groin injury that prevented him from taking the field. Vettori bowled unchanged almost until lunch, giving away only 13 runs, but it was the other slow bowlers who got the morning breakthroughs.
India had jogged to 383 for 4, adding 54 leisurely runs with few alarms, when Jeetan Patel struck. Tendulkar fell punching a length ball back to Patel at waist height, and his serene march towards a record-equalling 11th 50-plus score in successive Tests was cut short.
New Zealand 69 for 2 trail India 487 (Sehwag 173, Dravid 104, Harbhajan 69) by 418 runs.
The fans had turned up hoping to see crowd-pleasing batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni, but it was Harbhajan Singh who kept them cheering by making his highest Test score, and eighth Test half-century, to push India towards 500. New Zealand lost two early wickets in their reply after which key batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor, safely played out the final hour.
The New Zealand spinners had plenty of work to do on the first day, and there was even more responsibility on them today after debutant fast bowler Hamish Bennett picked up a groin injury that prevented him from taking the field. Vettori bowled unchanged almost until lunch, giving away only 13 runs, but it was the other slow bowlers who got the morning breakthroughs.
India had jogged to 383 for 4, adding 54 leisurely runs with few alarms, when Jeetan Patel struck. Tendulkar fell punching a length ball back to Patel at waist height, and his serene march towards a record-equalling 11th 50-plus score in successive Tests was cut short.
New Zealand 69 for 2 trail India 487 (Sehwag 173, Dravid 104, Harbhajan 69) by 418 runs.