http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in control of 1st Test at Ahmedabad
Day 2 India 487 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 69/2
India has taken control on day two of their first Test match against New Zealand that is being played at the Sardar Patel Motera stadium in Ahmedabad.
Resuming on the overnight score of 329/3 the hosts lost quick wickets in the morning session as Daniel Vettori’s team looked set to run through the hosts.
Master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, was the first one to fall on day two. The right hander was dismissed by spinner Jeetan Patel for 40 runs. Tendulkar toiled for his runs striking 5 fours in his 133 ball knock.
The inform Suresh Raina failed to impress this time, falling for only 3 runs. He was dismissed by spinner Kane Williamson.
Venkat Laxman, who made a return to the team after his heroics in the first Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 at Mohali fell for 40 runs off 105 balls, striking 4 fours in all.
The total was 392 at this stage, Mahindra Singh Dhoni was dismissed for 10 runs and the Indians had slumped to 410/7.
Zaheer Khan was the next to go. He made a single run only before falling to Vettori.
Zaheer fell with the score at 412 and the Black Caps had hoped to run through the remainder of the batting line up quickly and set up an opportunity of clawing back into the game.
However, Harbhajan Singh had other ideas and he started laying into the Black Caps attack smearing big sixes and hitting some expansive boundaries to upstage the tourists.
He reached his half century off 58 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes, and went on to score 69 runs off 97 balls. His final tally included 3 sixes.
Pragyan Ojha gave Harbhajan good company scoring 11 runs off 59 balls. He was the last man dismissed by Patel, and the hosts posted 487 runs in a total of 151.5 overs.
For the Black Caps their captain Vettori captured 4 wickets, while Patel captured 3 wickets after toiling for 29 overs, of which 6 were maidens.
In reply the Black Caps were rocked early on with the demise of Tim McIntosh without scoring after playing ten balls.
He was dismissed by left arm fast bowler Zaheer Khan with skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 taking a catch behind the stumps.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BJ-Watling-c1172, who is playing his first Test in Sub-continental conditions, found the going tough especially against the skilful Indian spin bowlers.
Watling hung around for 6 runs before he was cleaned up by Ojha, who hit a purple patch immediately upon his introduction in the attack.
The Black Caps were well served at this stage by Brendon McCullum and Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 the two most capable batsmen in the batting line-up looked composed and played out the threat of the Indian bowlers with relative ease.
McCullum, who is opening the innings, recently gave up wicket-keeping in the longest format of the game in a bid to excel in the batting department. He would be hoping that he stamps his authority as a batsman in the series, which is an important one for
his progress.
Ross Taylor, who is rated as the most talented batsman in the line-up was unbeaten at 18 at the close of play his innings includes 3 hits to the fence, while McCullum has scored 38 runs that came off 75 balls.
For the Indians, Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers claiming 1 wicket off his 7 overs conceding only 14 runs.
The other wicket taker is Ojha, who has conceded 15 runs in his 10 overs.
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