When the New Zealand team arrived in India, nobody gave them a chance against the number 1 ranked Test team in the world and especially at their home soil. But the young Kiwi side under the leadership of Daniel Vettori showed guts and immense mental strength
to give http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 a tough time. They played 2 competitive draws in the 3-match series and did convey a message to the rest of the cricketing world that New Zealand is still a competitive side at the international level.
On the other hand, there was a lot of pressure on the Indian team before the start of the 3rd Test and especially on their bowling line-up as it was not able to bowl the Kiwis out cheaply in the first 2 Tests of the series. Considering the lack
of experience in the New Zealand batting line-up, it was an assumption that the Indian spinners would run through the New Zealand side on most of the occasions but it remained only an assumption in the first 2 matches of the series.
However, India has come back strongly in the 3rd Test of the series which is being played at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vidarbha-c860 Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur. After winning the toss, New Zealand decided to bat first on a track that was expected to give some
help to the fast bowlers in the first session of the Test match. The decision by Daniel Vettori did not prove to be a good one as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 had lost half their side with only 51 runs on the board. Sreesanth and Sharma bowled really well with the new ball
along with the spinners.
However, a timely knock of 59 by Ryder and couple of gritty knocks down the order by McCullum and Southee helped New Zealand reach 193, which seemed like miles away at one stage. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566, who was making a return to the Indian Test side took 4 wickets
and bowled splendidly well with the help of the left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha who grabbed 3 crucial wickets.
After making only 193, it was always an uphill task for the Kiwis who were up against the most formidable batting line-up of the world. As expected, India put up a strong batting performance with no real hiccups at all. Gambhir and Sehwag proved again that
they have a very nice understanding between them and they love to bat together. They gave India a solid opening platform of 113 runs in a quick time but the real star of the show turned out to be http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid who once again proved that he is rightly called
“The Wall”. Dravid scored a brilliant 191 in his own calm manner with the captain Dhoni who scored a quick 98 and was caught and bowled by Vettori.
Gambhir, Sehwag and Tendulkar all scored valuable half centuries. Dhoni decided to declare the innings at 566 for the loss of 8 wickets. Kiwi skipper, Vettori took 3 wickets but not before conceding 178 runs in 58 overs.
New Zealand started its second innings with a massive deficit of 373 runs and lost an early wicket of the in-form Tim McIntosh who was struck in front of wickets by Harbhajan. Kiwis ended the 3rd day’s play at 24 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.
With 2 complete days of Test cricket ahead, a defeat looks inevitable for the Kiwis unless they put up a heroic batting effort for at least 5 of the remaining 6 sessions. India would look to repeat the bowling performance of the 1st innings and
rap up the Test match along with the series on the 4th day. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for an exciting day of Test cricket ahead of us.
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