India is carrying the burden of winning the first test. They have been in similar positions during their overseas trip to Zimbabwe in 2001 & South Africa in 2006-07 when they had won the 1st test. But went on to either draw the series or loose it. So Mr. Dhoni & team will be under pressure to carry the form into the second test & not repeat the recent history( Let me rephrase it to Mr. Sehwag & team).
Yes, that was the news that Dhoni is out of the 2nd test due to a back injury & Sehwag will lead the side in Dhoni’s absence.
However it was a day when India had a mixed bag. Early breakthroughs & then disappointments along with some sloppy catching.
India did loose the early initiative. However full credit to Ross Taylor & Jesse Ryder. Ryder who has come back into the team with a nasty reputation has silenced his critics with back to back centuries. His performance so far in both the test matches doesn’t reflect his laid back persona that he portrays and Taylor who has had a bad time against Indian’s so far in T20 & One dayers did come good with a rusty century.
But bowling of Harbhajan Singh was a great surprise. For some one who took 5 wickets in his last test innings, he was a shadow of his previous performance. He didn’t flight the ball and was short in his length. It’s a known fact that if he can get early wickets, he bowls with a lot of sting, but with NZ @ 23/3, one would have expected Harbhajan to look at taking wickets.
Munaf Patel just proved that you are as good as your last performance. The way he bowled the last over, summarized things on his approach towards this innings. He lacked the aggression & focus to bowl the last over. Wonder what did he think in the last test match when he bowled the last over on the first day of the first test match.
However the concern maybe Ishant Sharma. He is a great bowler against the right handers when he can get the ball to seam both ways. However he looses this ability against the left handers.
I know Sehwag will be criticised for letting runs flow after NZ was 23/3, but I think the Indian Bowlers barring Zaheer did not have the consistency that they had displayed in the first test.
Other highlights of the day were couple of close chances which usually would be taken if they get stuck in your hand. Umprire Doctrove also played his part during the last hour of the play by judging Franklin not out when he had snicked the ball. No doubt it was a slight nick, the decision is such cases go either way.
Tomorrow, India will have a chance to come back into the game in the first hour, with some quick wickets and a NZ score of around 400. Anything over 450, India will have to pull the game back by scoring big and ensuring they don’t bat again.
Tomorrow’s update after the day’s end.
Tags: cricket, India, New Zealand, Testmatch
March 26, 2009 at 5:15 am |
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