The Kiwi bowlers justifying their decision to field first in the first day of third Test in Wellington, as none of Indian top order stood for long except some uneven knock, put India on check at a score of 375/9 at the end of first day’s play. However, India recovered despite its middle order collapse.
A 73-run opening stand though gave a good picture for batsmen, wickets at regular interval brought India down to 190 for 5 till tea. After the depart of Virendra Sehwag (48) and Gautam Gambhir (23), Sachin Tendulkar today displayed another characteristic of his game while knocking the ball around the park in his 85-ball innings of 62 with eleven boundaries.
Rahul Dravid (35) and Sachin built a 90-run stand for the third wicket; however, when it seemed India were returning to their form, New Zealand hit back with two quick wickets: Sachin got out edging a catch to McCullum after scoring his 53rd half century and then VVS Laxman (4) and Yuvraj Singh (9) fell cheaply.
Dravid after a quite innings of 35 (114 balls) was the sixth wicket to fall. However, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 52 and Harbhajan Singh’s 60 (7x4s, 1x6) off just 78 balls saved the grace of Indian strong batting line-up. At the end of Day 1, Ishant Sharma (15) and Munaf Patel (14) were at the crease.
New Zealand would try to finish the Indian innings up as early as possible in the second day and a handy lead ahead of the second innings with an aim to level the series. India at present leads the three-match series 1-0.
Brief Score:
India First Innings batting 375 for 9: V. Sehwag 48, Dravid 35, Tendulkar 62, Dhoni 52, Harbhajan Singh 60, Zaheer Khan 33
Fall of wickets: 1-73 (Sehwag, 15.3 ov), 2-75 (Gambhir, 16.6 ov), 3-165 (Tendulkar, 42.5 ov), 4-173 (Laxman, 48.3 ov), 5-182 (Yuvraj Singh, 51.3 ov), 6-204 (Dravid, 58.1 ov), 7-283 (Dhoni, 76.6 ov), 8-315 (Harbhajan Singh, 82.1 ov), 9-347 (Khan, 85.6 ov)
New Zealand Bowling: Chris Martin 3/95, Tim Southee 2/94, Iain O'Brien 2/88
The Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel. 12th man: Dinesh Karthik
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum (wicketkeeper), Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin. 12th man: Jeetan Patel
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