Wright leads New Zealand to series victory
Partab Ramchand - 21 December 2002

Few Indian teams have left the shores amidst a mood of hope and expectations as the squad that left in January 1990 for New Zealand. The chairman of the selection committee Raj Singh Dungarpur had quaintly labeled the side as 'the team of the 90s'. The start of the decade also saw India acquire a new captain in Md Azharuddin who was suddenly and quite unexpectedly elevated to the post following the sacking of Krishnamachari Srikkanth after the tour of Pakistan the previous month. It was also generally a new-look side comprising many rookies and a few others who had played only a handful of Tests.

It was the current Indian coach Wright who set the New Zealanders on their way to victory in the first Test at Christchurch. The pugnacious left-handed opening batsman stuck it out for 9-1/4 hours during which he faced 443 balls for a marathon 185. His watchful innings succeeded in putting pressure on the Indians who then succumbed to Hadlee and Morrison and were dismissed for 164.

It was all part of the rebuilding process, but a tour of New Zealand was always going to be a tough proposition. Richard Hadlee, in the evening of a glittering career, was still a bowler to be feared, and for support, he had Danny Morrison, Martin Snedden and John Bracewell. And in skipper John Wright, Ken Rutherford, Martin Crowe, Andrew Jones, Ian Smith, Trevor Franklin and Mark Greatbach the Kiwis possessed a batting line-up that promised to pose problems for the Indian bowlers.

India on the other hand arrived with batting that was sound but the bowling appeared to be thin. So much then would depend on the likes of Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Woorkheri Raman, Navjot Sidhu and Kapil Dev. In retrospect, the three-match series was lost because of one single batting collapse in the first Test. In the two remaining games, the Indians generally matched the New Zealand batsmen both in solidity and adventurous stroke play. The bowling, however, was harshly treated symbolized by the home team running up scores of 459, 178 for one, 391 and 483 for five declared.

It was the current Indian coach Wright who set the New Zealanders on their way to victory in the first Test at Christchurch. The pugnacious left-handed opening batsman stuck it out for 9-1/4 hours during which he faced 443 balls for a marathon 185. His watchful innings succeeded in putting pressure on the Indians who then succumbed to Hadlee and Morrison and were dismissed for 164.

To compound the problem, Sidhu who top scored with 51, sustained a wrist injury courtesy a ball from Morrison. The injury was serious enough to put him out of the tour and Dilip Vengsarkar was flown out as a replacement. Following on 295 runs behind, India just about managed to avoid the innings defeat by scoring 296. Raman top scored with 96 but the cynosure was still Hadlee. The world-record holder became the first to take 400 Test wickets when he bowled Manjrekar as New Zealand won by ten wickets with a day to spare.

The second Test at Napier was affected badly by rain and a draw was the only possible result. There was no play on the first and fifth days and in between too there were showers. India led off with 358 for nine declared and though Manoj Prabhakar top scored with 95, it was Tendulkar who had everyone's eyes riveted on him. Not yet 17, Tendulkar on 80 began the fourth day with the prospect of becoming the young Test century-maker. That record, however, stayed with Pakistan's Mushtaq Mohammed, for Tendulkar was out for 88. The tireless Morrison took five wickets again. In the remaining time Wright helped himself to a second successive hundred while sharing a first wicket partnership of 149 with Franklin.

So the series was still open as the teams came to Auckland for the final Test and the game provided first-rate entertainment. New Zealand were 131 for seven midway through the first day when Smith joined Hadlee. The crowd now was privileged to witness one of the great modern Test hundreds as well as an amazing turn about. Hadlee (87) helped Smith add 103 runs in 23 overs for the eighth wicket and then Smith just tore the Indian attack apart.

He dominated a New Zealand record ninth wicket partnership of 136 runs with Snedden with the latter's share being just 22. After taking 56 balls for his 50, Smith raced to 100 off 95 and to 150 off 118. In taking 24 in an over from pace bowler Atul Wassan (244266) he equaled the Test record for most number of runs off a six-ball over shared by Andy Roberts, Sandip Patil and Ian Botham. Smith was last out for 173 off 136 balls - the highest score by a New Zealander at Eden Park, the highest by a New Zealand wicketkeeper and the highest by anyone batting at No 9 in a Test surpassing Clem Hill's 160 for Australia against England in 1907-08.

Azharuddin gave a fitting reply to Smith's pyrotechnics. With dazzling strokes on both sides of the wicket, the Indian captain made 192 before he was last out at 482 after having come in at 71 for three. Kiran More at No 9 scored 50 and Wassan at No 10 hit 53 to give India a lead of 91 runs. Morrison had a five-wicket haul for a third successive Test.

But the pitch still remained a batsman's paradise and Wright became the first New Zealander to score 4000 runs in Test cricket during his 74. Jones batted 634 minutes for an unbeaten 170 while Crowe got 113. By the time Wright declared, setting India a victory target of 393 at 6.14 runs an over, the competitive interest in the match had evaporated and Indian openers Raman and Prabhakar helped themselves to an unbeaten partnership of 149.

After the end of the Test series, the Indians participated in the Rothman's Cup Triangular series, a one-day competition in which the other teams were New Zealand and Australia. Winning only one and losing three of the matches at the preliminary stage, the Indians failed to qualify for the final that was won by Australia.

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