Patient openers anchor India to a solid start
India began confidently in their response to New Zealand's 350-run first innings total in the second Test in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hyderabad-c792.
The openers raced to 69 runs without loss in a testing session, when the New Zealand’s new ball bowlers made life difficult for the batsmen.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 (29) batted patiently as the tourist’s bowling attack posed a constant threat by moving the ball off the wicket and in the air.
Tim Southee and Chris Martin bowled with a lot of venom but were unable to pick up a wicket in doing so. The opening bowlers bowled with great control and accuracy in a bid to rattle the Indian openers. The batsmen however showed great composure and technique to survive at the wicket.
Earlier in the day, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 came back into the game, despite a resilient batting performance by the Kiwi middle order. The Indian bowlers wreaked havoc with the opposition batsmen as they picked up 6 wickets in space of 92 runs.
Zaheer Khan caused some problems to the right handers with his left-arm around the wicket angle. Zaheer consistently pitched the ball in the right areas as he picked up two wickets in quick succession for an impressive haul of four for 69.
Harbhajan Singh backed up the left arm seamer as he also picked up four late order wickets. On a second day wicket, the off-spin bowler extracted a fair amount of turn and bounce to rattle the batsman.
Moreover, the off-spinner scythed through the tail-enders, registering decent figures of four wickets for 76 runs. The turbunator picked all his four scalps on day two.
Jessie Ryder led http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754’s fight-back as he played a resilient innings of 70 runs. He added 48 runs of just 56 balls to his overnight score. On a surface that was offering a bit of turn and grip to the spinners, Ryder was the only player who came to terms with the spinning ball.
Apart from, Ryder there was no other substantial contributor. Tim McIntosh registered a defiant century on the first day as he steered his team to competent first innings total of 350 runs.
The opening partnership remains a key for the Indian team as it will be easy to put up a massive first innings score. New Zealand on the other hand, will be looking to close the day on a high by picking up come crucial wickets.
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