Kiwi batsmen safely through to stumps

Rahul Dravid tapped the ball and ran down the wicket to see if there was any possibility of a run. By the time he realised that there was no run in it, Harris had fired the ball in to Parore who whipped the bails off in a flash. Dravid had made 12.

After an excessively aggressive beginning the Indians seemed to quieten down considerably. Sourav Ganguly played the last aggressive knock of the Indian innings and after he was bowled by Harris going for a big shot the Indians seemed to be without a definite target or plan. Ganguly's innings of 53 included two fours and two huge sixes.

MSK Prasad batted in his normal fashion and scampered singles with Javagal Srinath who had been sent in ahead of Jadeja and Gandhi. News from the Indian camp was that Gandhi was suffering from a throat infection and that Jadeja had a high fever.

After making 17 runs Prasad got himself out trying to tickle Astle down the leg side. Srinath was then joined by Jadeja who was visibly under some discomfort. They played the ball into the many gaps in the field and milked the bowling for runs. Just before the declaration, Srinath had a mighty heave off Harris and ended up smacking the ball straight back past the bowler for six. With Srinath on 19, Jadeja on 13 and India on 149/5 Tendulkar declared the innings closed.

A massive target of 425 for victory was being chased in a slow steady manner by the Kiwi openers Matthew Horne and Gary Stead. A tired Srinath who has been on the field for the best part of two days settled into a good line and length quickly. Venkatesh Prasad bowled steadily at the other end.

Clearly the Kiwis were just looking for a solid start and were not going after the target just yet. Kumble replaced Srinath at the end of the sixth over in a predictable move. The Kiwi batsmen, Horne in particular left the ball alone when it was dangerously close to the off stump and was inviting trouble.

Prasad too was taken off and Harbhajan Singh completed the all spin attack. He proved to be unpenetrative and Tendulkar brought himself on to bowl the penultimate over of the game. His mixture of off breaks and leg breaks did not trouble the Kiwis who had made it safely through to stumps at 21/0. This set up a situation fairly similar to the one at Mohali. Except, this track was still very docile and it was unlikely that deteriorate dramatically on the fifth and final day.

To top it all, Sachin Tendulkar came out to open the innings along with Ramesh. Stephen Fleming set five men on the fence from the word go and the field was more defensive than the fields we're used to in limited over internationals. Justifiably so, the way Tendulkar went after the bowling. To start the second innings off, Ramesh worked the first ball from Cairns away off his hips to the mid wicket fence. From then on, it was the Tendulkar show. Nash and Cairns pitched the ball short and got hammered. Tendulkar was in position in a flash and pulled the ball with ferocious power. Coming off his first ever double hundred Tendulkar was bursting with confidence.

After getting to 15 off just 9 balls, Tendulkar played all over a full length delivery from Cairns and was bowled all ends up. The excitement of the situation got to Tendulkar, but he wasn't the only one. Television replays showed that Cairns had over stepped the bowling crease by a fair bit and should have been no balled. However, with the crowds making more of a racket than at any other time in the match the gaffe is understandable if not excusable.

Ramesh too got caught up in the action and perished trying to hook a fast bouncer from Nash. The ball got big on Ramesh in a hurry and went through with the shot. The ball went through to the 'keeper in a flash and Parore took a good catch leaping high into the air. Ramesh had made a quick 16.

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were together once more and the action continued unabated. Ganguly waded into Daniel Vettori and hit him for 2 huge sixes over long on in one over. Whenever Vettori tossed the ball up, Ganguly came down the wicket and launched himself into an expansive drive. The two times he attempted the stroke, he hit the ball cleanly and got himself 12 quick runs.

At tea India were 64/2 of just 11 overs. Ganguly with 22 off a mere 19 balls and Dravid with a relatively sedate 10 off 17 balls looked in fine nick. The overall lead stood at 339 and India were playing with determination.

Paul John Wiseman, known more for his off spinning ability than his batting joined Nash to take up the challenge. Nash shielded Wiseman admirably and batted more like a genuine batsman than as a bowler who can bat a bit. Wiseman for his part kept the ball out on the many occasions that he was called upon to do so.

Tendulkar changed his bowlers around, giving Srinath, Kumble and Harbhajan a chance to dislodge the number eleven batsman. Three fielders crouched around the bat in front of the wicket and the pressure was on. Every time the ball struck the pad or bobbed up to the close in fielders a loud, vociferous appeal as made. The Indian fielders went up in unison, but neither umpire VK Ramaswamy nor umpire Rudi Koertzen were swayed until Wiseman made the mistake of attempting to sweep Harbhajan across the line.

The ball straightened up a touch, hit him low on the pad and umpire Ramaswamy had no choice but to raise the finger and send Wiseman on his way. The New Zealand innings ended at 308.

Once again the match is interestingly poised. If the pitch breaks up on the last day, the Kiwis could have tough battle on their hands.

Nathan Astle played a loosely defensive shot to Prasad with his bat hanging in the air outside the off stump. The ball did just enough to take the outside edge on its way to the wicketkeeper. A big blow to the New Zealand team, but surely not the end of the defiance.

Astle's innings of 74 was the closest a Kiwi had come to scoring a fluent century on tour. His innings was peppered with boundaries and yet, he was solid in defense when the ball warranted it.

Chris Harris came in rather late in the order with only Nash and Wiseman to follow. Having reached 2 runs in steady time, Harris just could not get going. He seemed to be reasonably confident of where his off stump was and left the ball alone on more than one occasion. While he put up a facade of being solid, he did not look like the Chris Harris of old. Perhaps having to bat at number nine was taking its toll. He took 31 balls to get off 2 runs.

Opposite Harris Cairns discovered some ferocious batting touch and belted Harbhajan straight back over his head into the stands. Easily the biggest six of the match, the ball sailed into the stands. Cairns followed his big six up with an on drive that bounced once and slammed into the advertising hoardings.

After being treated in aggressive fashion by Cairns Harbhajan began to bowl flat and lost his edge altogether. In the mean time Harris picked up a boundary gliding the ball to the vacant third man region. An overpitched delivery from Srinath was summarily dismissed to the cover fence by Harris a ball before he made the cardinal error of playing half cocked. Standing up at the crease Harris played a nothing shot and the ball flew off the edge to Ramesh who pouched the catch easily. Once again Harris had flattered to deceive in his innings of 12 off 64 balls.

With Harris' dismissal lunch was taken at 284/8. All hopes now rested squarely on the broad shoulders of Chris Cairns whose brave innings of 67 was yet unbeaten.

Chris Cairns joined an in form Nathan Astle out in the middle and the two together took on the Indian bowlers. Astle stroked the ball confidently to post the first Kiwi half century of the match. Astle's fifty included 5 fours and one cleanly struck six of Harbhajan Singh. The six of Harbhajan was by far the most aggressive shot by any Kiwi batsman. He picked up a well flighted Harbhajan off spinner from well outside off stump and smacked it over mid wicket, straight over the ropes.

At the opposite end Chris Cairns looked more than a bit confused about what his approach should be. While mixing aggression with caution would be his usual approach to batting in Test matches, he seemed to adopt an overly defensive mind set in this situation. While that might have been a good strategy to adopt in principle, Cairns' technique hardly suggested that he could use it successfully over a length of time. However, it must be said that he showed grit and stuck it out.

Though India had two spinners in operation for the greater part of the day, their over rate was less than special and at the scheduled close of play they still had 7 overs to bowl. As the day progressed, the scoring rate dropped dramatically. In a seven over period between the 88th and the 94th over only 2 runs were scored. Even given this fact, Tendulkar took the new ball in the middle of the 94th over and let Srinath and Prasad have a go.

The communication between the two batsmen was strained at times and on at least two occasions Cairns was very nearly run out.

At the end of the 98th over of the innings a fifth bowler was finally used. The partnership breaker of limited over international fame Sourav Ganguly was given the ball. If nothing, the change of pace gave the batsmen something to think about. Ganguly bowled a maiden over to a watchful Astle first up.

Two uneventful overs later stumps were called at 5.30pm local time. All things considered, New Zealand will be reasonably happy with their performance on the day. Denied by questionable umpiring decisions in earlier matches, Astle battled hard for his unbeaten 68. Cairns on 18 kept Astle good company. The first session of play tomorrow could be crucial to the outcome of the game. Uppermost on the minds of the Kiwis will be avoiding the follow on. If they take up the best part of tomorrow doing that, they would be in a position approaching safety.

With the departure of McMillan from the side due to injury, the two batsmen at the crease were by far New Zealand's best. Stephen Fleming's stonewalling had worked perfectly for him. Astle, a normally aggressive batsmen curbed some of his natural stroke playing tendencies without ever creeping into his shell. He still went for big drives when the ball was up there to be hit and almost paid the price on more than one occasion. The ball slid past the outside edge and kept the Indian fast bowlers interested without actually giving them any joy.

Against Kumble and Harbhajan Astle took no risks. Playing with the bat very close to the pad he gave nothing away. While Astle preferred to tackle the spinners on the front foot, Fleming did so equally effectively off the back foot. Kumble's straight high arm action and Harbhajan's whippy arm action caused the ball to bounce awkwardly even from this flat wicket. There was no evidence of the wicket breaking up even at tea on the third day. Fleming played well back to Harbhajan and negated any possibly of being caught close to the bat.

Since India went into the game with only four frontline bowlers, it was up to Tendulkar to change them around judiciously. One such change that paid off was the move to bring Srinath back into the attack just before tea. Fleming may have been concentrating so hard on negotiating the spinners that he made a basic error of judgement against the fast bowler. Fleming played at a ball well wide of off stump without actually moving his feet and ended up tickling the ball into the waiting gloves of MSK Prasad. Fleming's knock of 48 was the cornerstone of the Kiwi innings and his dismissal greatly increased India's chances of dismissing the Kiwis for less than 384 and enforcing the follow on.

Nathan Astle got going just before tea and a flurry of boundaries off the medium pacers suggested that Astle had played himself in on this Motera wicket. A couple of spanking drives through the off side off the bowling of Srinath reinforced the belief that it was indeed possible to bat fluently even under these trying conditions.

Adam Parore came in ahead of Chris Cairns and Chris Harris and looked organised from the word go. The pair took New Zealand safely through to tea at 145 for 5. Astle was going strong on 39 and Parore was yet to get off the mark.

The first to do so was Daniel Vettori. Coming off batting success in England the young spinner has found the going rather tough all tour. He poked at a quick straight delivery from Kumble and ended up edging the ball onto his pad. The ball popped up and the substitute fielder Vijay Bharadwaj under the helmet took a good catch.

Gary Stead who looked efficient if not orthodox in his first stay at the crease was the next to fall. He attempted to work Kumble away into the on side and closed the face of the bat too early. The ball flew off the leading edge towards Ganguly at short cover. Ganguly took a good catch diving low and Stead's 17 run resistance came to an end.

Craig Spearman came in at number four, one spot lower than his customary position. Spearman looked like he had some measure of the bowling. Having played the Indian spinners on far more helpful tracks in Mohali and Kanpur, he looked a bit at ease. It was a case of the batsman knowing exactly what was required of him but finding that very difficult to execute. Spearman played a cracking cover drive off Prasad and signaled his intention to play his normal game and not be too tied down by the situation of the game. That might have worked against him when he was dismissed by Prasad. Prasad looked the least likely among the Indian bowlers to pick a wicket. Spearman went after a full delivery wide outside off stump and attempted to play a full blooded drive. He misjudged the line of the ball and edged the ball thickly. The ball flew very fast between first and second slip. Ramesh dived low to his left from second slip and took a good catch inches from the ground. Like Stead, Spearman had also made 17.

Fleming was once again the most convincing of the Kiwi batsmen. He sorted out his strategy against the Indian bowlers well and was especially effective against Srinath. Srinath bowling just short of a length gave Fleming enough time to move back and across and punch the ball into the on side. Fleming did this with regularity and got himself useful runs.

Nathan Astle along with Fleming saw New Zealand through to lunch with 73 runs on the board for the loss of 4 wickets. Fleming was unbeaten on 15 and Astle had 4 runs to his name.

Gary Stead a late addition to the tour party faced the first ball from Javagal Srinath. The decision to use Stead as an opener surprised a few and to have him take first strike in conditions he is hardly accustomed to was a brave one. Stead has spent almost two whole days in the sweltering heat and took more than one knock on the body while fielding in close. Yet, he seemed at ease and got off the mark very quickly.

Gary Stead got his first taste of Anil Kumble after just 4 overs. Perhaps the fact that he had not batted on Indian wickets before also meant that he was not excessively cautious or defensive. That is one thing that might actually work in his favour on a track that offers very little assistance to the bowlers.

Srinath changed ends and replaced Venkatesh Prasad. A loud shout for leg before was turned down by umpire Ramaswamy. What might have saved Stead was the fact that the ball might have pitched a shade outside off stump.

Matthew Horne's run of bad form continued as he patted a Kumble delivery straight to Rahul Dravid under the helmet. Horne's 2 runs took his tour aggregate to a dismal 49 runs from 5 innings. The Canterbury opener never looked comfortable on Indian soil.

Daniel Vettori, having bowled more than 25 overs today came in as nightwatchman. Kumble bowled the last over of the day with the whole Indian team around the bat. Srinath at short cover was the fielder furthest away from the bat. Stead negotiated the over with a straight bat will take on the Indian bowling tomorrow with the Kiwi total on 18/1.

Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble continued to score freely against the Kiwi spinners. Srinath in particular had a heave at all the bowlers and used the long handle to good effect. His straight drive off Vettori came really close to being the first six of the match. He drove well, showing the full face of the bat and sent the ball racing to the boundary on more than one occasion.

Chris Cairns came back into the attack at the end of the 72nd over of the day. Srinath and Kumble slowed down a bit against the medium pacer, but did not miss out on any scoring opportunities. The declaration looked imminent and the two played to the situation. Kumble was more orthodox and restrained while Srinath had a bit of a dash.

When Dion Nash bowled his first over of the day, the Karnataka speedster went after a ball outside off stump and ended up getting a thick outside edge. The ball flew to Fleming at first slip who just couldn't get his hands to the ball in time. The ball deflected off his fingers and ran down towards third man. The 42 degree centigrade temperatures seemed to have gotten to the New Zealand fielders. Even in the most trying of circumstances, the Kiwi fielding has been top class. Towards the end of the Test series a few blemishes began to show up.

In Nash's next over Kumble threw his bat a ball outside off stump without moving his feet to the line of the ball. The ball came in a touch and jagged off the inside edge to the fine leg boundary. Despite his best efforts, Dion Nash had no luck going his way. Kumble followed up the streaky boundary with a genuine square drive in the same over and India had moved on to 576 with Kumble and Srinath on 24 and 29 respectively.

As the 12th man Debashish Mohanty wandered in with a bottle of water, it was obvious that Tendulkar had resorted to the age old practice of sending a message in a bottle. A massive heave from Srinath off the very next ball suggested that India might declare their innings closed as early as after the next over.

As expected, India declared their innings closed at the end of the 167th over. Srinath was unbeaten on a stroke filled 33 while Kumble had 25 runs for his efforts. The Indian innings of 583/7 declared was their highest ever against New Zealand, surpassing the 537/3 declared made in the 1955/56 series.

Around this time, Daniel Vettori appeared to lose the plot completely and sprayed the ball around. He speared the ball down the leg side to both Tendulkar and Ganguly and was swept away for easy runs.

Chris Harris came into the attack for the first time and was welcomed by a Ganguly off drive for four. To sustain any interest or hope in this game, New Zealand would have to manufacture a wicket from somewhere. With his bowlers bowling ordinarily at best and worse for the best part of the day, there was very little Fleming could do but wait, watch and hope for the best.

Sourav Ganguly finally perished to a careless tired shot off the bowling of Nathan Astle. He attempted to loft a fullish delivery over mid on, but ended up lobbing the ball gently to Dion Nash. Ganguly's innings of 125 included 20 boundaries. A huge roar from the crowd welcomed Ajay Jadeja to the middle at the fall of Ganguly's wicket.

Ajay Jadeja making his way back into the Test side started off slowly, but timed the ball well. He stroked the ball firmly in the 'V' in front of the wicket. Tendulkar showed no nerves as he made his way to 185. If anything, he stepped up a gear and hit the ball ferociously to the boundaries. He almost threw it all away, coming down the wicket to Vettori. He missed the ball completely and made his way back to safety as the ball deflected off his pads.

As Tendulkar neared the milestone that had eluded him on at least 4 occasions in the past, the crowd got more vocal in their support of the Indian captain. The field was well spread out - long on, long off and fine leg were on the fence in addition to a sweeper cover patrolling the off side boundary. The whole field came in when Tendulkar was on 199. Every fielder was on his toes as the first two balls from Vettori were played straight to the fielder.

When Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar turned the ball to the on side to do what he has never done in his career the roar from the crowd reached deafening proportions for the first time in the day. The time he took to get there, the number of balls he faced and the number of boundaries he struck all became meaningless as he crossed the 200 run mark. He lifted his hands to the air, took off his helmet and the relief at reaching the landmark 10 years after he made his debut against Pakistan as a 16 year old was obvious for all to see.

Soon after Ajay Jadeja came down the wicket as we have seen him done time and time again in limited overs games and played all over a straight ball from Vettori. Jadeja was a long way down the wicket when the ball crashed into the stumps ending his innings of 14.

MSK Prasad was bowled around his legs on the last ball before tea. Daniel Vettori was finally seeing some reward for all his hard work. Despite Jadeja and Prasad's speedy departure India were well in the driver's seat at 518/6.

The two Indian batsmen stroked their way superbly as the Kiwi captain watched helplessly. Both the spinners and the pacemen prove to be ineffective and the Kiwis could do nothing but wait for an Indian declaration. Tendulkar worked the ball into the gaps with ease as Fleming set a rather defensive field. When the ball was slightly short of a length or too full, the Indian captain climbed into the bowling and hammered it around the park. At the other end Ganguly was all finesse and timing as he eased the ball repeatedly through the off side.

Frustrated by the unresponsiveness of the pitch, Dion Nash got into a bit of a heated exchange with Tendulkar. While running between the wickets Tendulkar brushed past Nash and this seemed to annoy the fast bowler no end. Umpire VK Ramaswamy had a quiet word with both concerned parties and the matter was laid to rest. Nash continued to glare at Tendulkar several balls later and the Indian captain responded in fine style, clipping Nash neatly past the slips for four.

After the ball got sufficiently old, Fleming reverted to the all spin combination of Vettori and Wiseman. While this seemed to check the flow of boundaries, it also gave the Indian batsmen a chance to coast along till the lunch break. There was absolutely nothing penetrative in the bowling and the two motored along steadily.

At lunch Tendulkar had amassed 153 runs and Ganguly was looking good on 90. With India in a strong position at 403/3 there was very little joy for the Kiwis on a sweltering day at Motera. Just before the luncheon interval the crowd began slow hand clapping as Tendulkar neared the 150 mark. Tendulkar tickled Wiseman round the corner and brought up his 150. He acknowledged the crowd's cheers with a token wave of the bat, but his reaction at reaching 150 was far more subdued than when he reached 100.

Batting first on a flat track, India got off to a reasonable start with openers Gandhi and Ramesh motoring steadily on. Gandhi had his first reprieve when Spearman grassed a catch off the bowling of Cairns in the slips. The lapse proved to be rather inexpensive for the Kiwis as Gandhi was dismissed soon after, with only 20 on the board. Gandhi was cut in half by an incoming delivery from Cairns and the ball clipped the inside edge on the way to Parore.

Rahul Dravid joined an in form Sadagopan Ramesh and the two began to push the scoring. Vettori was brought in to the attack early but proved to be ineffective as Ramesh drove confidently square of the wicket. When the ball was dropped slightly short of a length, Ramesh was quick to lean back and ease it through the off side field.

Dravid looked fluent while he was at the crease, but got probably the only really threatening delivery of the day. Pitched on the stumps, a Vettori off spinner jumped and left him. Before he could get his bat out of harm's way Parore had his second catch of the day. Dravid had made a compact 33 and the Indian total was 102.

Sachin Tendulkar walked out to a huge roar from the crowds and joined Ramesh for the best period of the Indian innings. Ramesh was in good nick and the presence of the captain at the other end made the Tamil Nadu south paw put his head down and play a solid innings. The playing and missing and airy drives through the off side that usually dot every Ramesh innings were conspicuous by their absence. He stroked the all magnificently through the off side and was especially severe on Paul Wiseman who couldn't seem to decide which line to bowl.

While Ramesh was consolidating his innings the Indian captain was getting on with his own knock. There are times when Sachin Tendulkar puts his head down and bats the opposition out of the game. His mannerisms and approach suggested that this might be one of those occasions.

Ramesh got to the 90s rather steadily and then almost threw it all away when he tried to go down the wicket to Wiseman on 98. He missed the ball altogether and it ricocheted away off his pads. Tendulkar walked across to the opener and had a few words with him. A calmer Sadagopan Ramesh brought up his hundred with a single.

On 110 Chris Harris had Ramesh caught in the slips, much the same way Astle dismissed Ramesh at Kanpur. A ball pitched just short of a length flew off the outside edge to Spearman at slip who held the catch comfortably. Ramesh's knock included 13 impeccably timed boundaries.

Ganguly then took his turn out in the middle alongside Tendulkar. A combination of sensible batting and uninspired bowling on an insipid wicket resulted in a run feast. Tendulkar went from strength to strength and put the Kiwi team's resilience to test. The wicket made bowling very difficult to batsmen who were well set and the Kiwis seemed to lack penetration. However, it must be said that the Kiwis never flagged in the field. Whether it was Daniel Vettori patrolling the third man region, Chris Harris diving around at gully or anyone else. Unfortunately it takes more than a good fielding effort to win a Test match.

After tea, the crowds grew restless as Tendulkar closed in on his hundred. Whenever Tendulkar was off strike, the chanting would begin, demanding Tendulkar back on strike. The chants grew louder and fiercer with every run that took Tendulkar closer to his century. Surprisingly, Tendulkar seemed to respond to the crowd's behaviour and played carelessly on more than one occasion.

Chris Cairns was given a shiny new ball to bowl with and almost had Tendulkar - twice. First Tendulkar attempted to cut a ball that was too straight to cut and almost chopped the ball back onto his stumps off the inside edge. In the same over he tried to pull a ball from Cairns that got big on him in a hurry. The ball flew straight up in the air off the edge. Nathan Astle made good ground running back from the slip cordon, got both hands to the ball but could not hold on to it. This was the first real chance the Kiwis had got at dismissing Tendulkar and they had let it slip out of their grasp.

After a ball from Nash barely slid past the outside edge Tendulkar brought up his hundred with a ferocious square cut. The ball sped to the point fence, notching up his 16th boundary of the day. Once again the little master had cashed in on an easy pitch and made a big score. This was exactly what the New Zealanders had failed to do on this tour to India. With Exception of Fleming at Mohali, none of the New Zealand top order batsmen had gone on to make a big score after reaching the 30s.

At the end of the day, Tendulkar was motoring speedily along at 104 and Ganguly was keeping him good company with 51 to his name. At 311 for 3 India held all the trumps. Daniel Vettori coming off a 5 wicket haul at Kanpur had notched up 103 runs off 28 overs for his solitary wicket.