http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hyderabad-c792 Test- New Zealand saved by McCullum
Nobody thought that New Zealand would go through 2 test matches in India against the home team without loosing at least 1. New Zealand is definitely a competitive team but considering their recent performance in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, 2 competitive draws against the worlds top ranked test team is quite an achievement.
The New Zealand captain, Daniel Vettori, won the toss of the 2nd Test of the series at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad, and elected to bat on a pitch that had a slight tinge of grass on it. It was a brave decision and turned out to be a good one as well with New Zealand ending the 1st day at 258 runs for the loss of only 4 top order batsmen. New Zealand ended up getting 350 runs in the 1st innings, with the left handed opener, Tim McIntosh, scoring his 2nd test hundred with 102 runs constituting 10 fours and a six, and Martin Guptill regaining his form with a solid 85. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh shined with 4 wickets each for India.
In reply, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 once again proved the worth of its amazing batting lineup. Almost all the top order batsmen contributed. The explosive Sehwag missed his hundred by only 4 runs when he was bowled by Vettori. The real surprise was Harbhajan Singh, who scored a smashing 111 unbeaten of only 116 balls with 7 hits out of the park. India ended up getting 472 runs and took a lead of 122 runs in the 1st innings. Daniel Vettori took 5 wickets in his marathon spell of 49.4 overs.
In the 2nd innings, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 took a solid start once again but they were in hot waters by the end of the 4th day’s play with only 6 wickets in hand and leading by only 115 runs. The 5th day belonged to New Zealand, though, with Brendon McCullam hitting his way back to form. A big score was very much due on McCullum and he came up with a double hundred this time. McCullum's wicket was lost by a catch by Raina with Sreesanth on the bowling end, on 225 runs but the match was out of India’s grasp at that time. McCullum scored his runs of only 308 balls with an astonishing strike-rate of 73.05 and his innings included 22 fours and 4 sixes, proving that form may be temporary but class is permanent. Kane Williamson, who is playing his first international series, once again impressed all with his spectacular 69 and ably supported McCullum to save the match for his country. New Zealand declared their innings at 448 for the loss of 8 wickets.
In their 2nd innings, India played out 17 overs without any hiccups and were at 68 for no loss before both the captains decided to call it a time.
With 2 drawn tests, New Zealand would be the happier side of the two as they are less experienced and may be lacking the variety in their bowling lineup to bowl out India twice. On the other hand, India would be devising a strategy to win the 3rd test at Nagpur. Dhoni would be praying that the pitch at Nagpur offers more support to his spinners as he is relying on Harbajhan and Ojha to win him another series.
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