New Zealand should have wrapped it up far more easily than they finally did. Till Stephen Fleming played that horrendous shot, India seemed to have as much chance of winning as the possibility of snowfall in Mumbai. His first-innings effort was patchy, but Fleming seemed to have learnt plenty from that, offering the full face of the bat and playing close to his body. Hardly any ball beat the bat, and New Zealand were coasting, till Fleming decided to inject some excitement into the match.

As if a rash shot from one experienced player wasn't enough, Nathan Astle, New Zealand's sixth-highest run-getter in Tests, went ahead and repeated it. In the end, it required a cool, level-headed effort from a 24-year-old, in only his second Test match, to show the way to the seniors. Jacob Oram had excelled with the ball earlier; now, his batting effort showed that he has all the makings of a fine allrounder.

India would be justified in claiming to have had the worse of the pitch, but they didn't help their cause by some poor bowling and a couple of strange moves by the captain.

Sourav Ganguly erred in keeping Harbhajan Singh out of the attack for too long. It was probably worth bowling him for a couple of overs last evening – especially since Mark Richardson is a notoriously poor player of spin bowling. Not having done that, Ganguly then compounded his mistake by keeping Harbhajan out for a further 16 overs this morning.

Unlike New Zealand's display with the ball, the Indian bowlers hardly ever maintained the pressure from both ends. Tinu Yohannan tested the right-handers and did a fine job by getting the early breakthrough, but allowed Fleming and Mark Richardson plenty of sighters by bowling wide outside off.

But the biggest disappointments were the listless performances by the two strike bowlers, on the day when India most needed them to deliver. Zaheer Khan struggled with length and rhythm, and showed that he is still some way from achieving the consistency that India would expect from their premier fast bowler. He twice conceded 12 runs in an over, and in a match where runs were at such a premium, that was a luxury India could ill afford.

To compound matters, when Harbhajan was brought into the attack, he let his captain down by bowling all over the place. Too many deliveries drifted down leg or were wide outside off, allowing batsmen plenty of free hits. It was almost as if the burden of expectation proved too much to shoulder for both of them.

Ashish Nehra was a revelation. In a performance reminiscent of his display at Port-of-Spain earlier this year, he maintained excellent control over line and length, and brought India the crucial breakthroughs. Then, he had nailed Brian Lara and Carl Hooper early on the last day, paving the way for a win; here, his virtuoso performance almost allowed India to level the series.

The biggest criticism of Nehra in recent times has been his inability to put the ball in the right areas ball after ball. Today, he was on the coin all the time. Even when New Zealand were almost home, Nehra still charged in, moved the ball, and beat the bat. His lion-hearted display might not have won India the Test, but it's certainly done enough to ensure that he stays on for the one-dayers.

In the end, India had the highest score in an innings (Rahul Dravid's 39), the highest partnership (49, between Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar), and the best bowling figures in an innings (Zaheer's 5 for 29 in the first innings), but New Zealand had the Test-match victory. Talk of the sum of parts being more than the whole.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com in India.

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