New Zealand 109 for 5 (Astle 32, Agarkar 3-26) beat India 108 all out (Dravid 20, Hitchcock 3-30, Tuffey 2-11) by 5 wickets with 23.1 overs to spare
Scorecard

The year was brand new, but the script couldn't have been more familiar. Another seaming pitch, another Indian batting collapse, and another outstanding performance by New Zealand in the field. The result was a five-wicket victory for New Zealand with 23.1 overs to spare, and a 3-0 lead in the seven-match series.

After dismissing India for 108 for the second time in three matches - India's total in seven international innings on this tour is now a miserable 970 runs - Nathan Astle gave New Zealand's innings the early impetus, blasting 32 off 30 balls, including an over when he smashed Srinath for 22 off one over. Though India fought back with a clutch of wickets, their bowlers never showed the discipline which Daryl Tuffey and co. had exhibited in the afternoon.

Sourav Ganguly had little hesitation in opting to bat after calling correctly, but it all unravelled very quickly for him and his team after that. Rahul Dravid's 20 was the highest score by a batsman, while the biggest contributor to the innings was the 22 extras. The tinge of green on a fresh track gave the bowlers plenty of cheer, and Tuffey had another outstanding game, finishing with incredible figures of 10-2-11-2. His first two deliveries went past the outside edge of Virender Sehwag's bat, and that set the pattern for the Indian innings.

Sehwag struggled 20 balls in making 7, while Ganguly's horror run with the bat continued. Playing-and-missing more times that he would care to remember, Ganguly (4) was eventually put out of his misery by Tuffey, with McCullum making amends for missing a chance off the same batsman earlier.

Dravid's technical excellence shone through again, but even he was intent merely on survival for most of his innings. The third-wicket partnership with VVS Laxman yielded 23 off almost 10 overs as India crawled to 25 after 15 overs.

Dropped from the World Cup squad and included in this match only because of Sachin Tendulkar's late withdrawal, Laxman was twice reprieved by Doug Cowie when he turned down caught-behind appeals, but the balance was redressed by Asoka de Silva, who sent Laxman on his way for 10, when the bat had actually made contact with pad, not ball (38 for 3).

The innings sparkled briefly when Mohammad Kaif joined Dravid in a 29-run partnership, off just seven overs. Running the singles hard and bringing off some audacious strokes, Kaif injected some momentum into the innings, before New Zealand's excellence in the field yielded more results.

Dravid was denied runs three times in an over, twice in the cover region by Lou Vincent, and once by Stephen Fleming at slip. Frustrated, Dravid attempted a pull to a ball which wasn't short enough for the shot, and Daniel Vettori, at mid-on, ran backwards and came up with the ball in his left hand (68 for 4).

That dismissal marked the end of any resistance that the Indians could muster. Kaif (17) was done in by another away-seamer by Oram, with McCullum grabbing the fourth of his five catches for the innings (82 for 5).

Yuvraj Singh battled hard for 44 balls in making 12, and then was cruelly run out at the non-striker's end, as Hitchcock, on his follow-through, got a hand to a straight-drive from Harbhajan Singh (100 for 8). The tail fell away yet again - the last four wickets managed just 18 - and India were left hoping that the bowlers would bail them out.

The customary early wicket did fall: Fleming, whose series aggregate of 17 in three matches is one less than Ganguly's, was snapped up by Kaif at third slip off Zaheer Khan (37 for 1). By then, Astle's early assault had already given New Zealand the initiative, and the pitch suddenly appeared to have lost all its demonic characteristics. Srinath did come back to win the second round of his battle with Astle, while Ajit Agarkar showed impressive control and was rewarded with three wickets, but a target of 109 was never likely to be enough.

In the end, India were left ruing their lack of batting form, while New Zealand were faced with the happy prospect of wrapping up the series with three games to spare.

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

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