India need only 6 kiwi wickets for their first series win in New Zealand since 1968 after the hosts lost four second-innings wickets still needing 450 runs for victory in the third Test here Monday.
New Zealand were struggling at 167 for four when bad light stopped the play almost an hour early on the fourth day, after being set a massive target of 617 to win the final Test.
India had a 1-0 lead coming into the Test at the Basin Reserve and a draw would be enough to clinch their first series win in New Zealand for more than four decades.
Victory for New Zealand is out of reach, with the highest fourth innings winning total in Test cricket history being 418 scored by the West Indies against Australia in 2003.
New Zealand's remaining batsmen will have to face the extremely difficult task of trying to survive the final day.
But rain may give them a good chance of taking the match into a draw.
The New Zealand second innings threatened to fall apart after lunch, until Ross Taylor offered some strong resistance, continuing to play his shots on the way to an unbeaten on 69 at stumps.
Allrounder James Franklin was not out on 26. The pair put on 83 runs partnership for the fifth wicket to avoid an embarrassing rout of defeat, after New Zealand had collapsed to 84 for four.
The destroyers of New Zealand's first innings, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh,also destroyed New Zealand's top order in the early afternoon in the second innings,taking two for 50 and two for 35 respectively.
Earlier Monday, India declared at 434 for seven in its second innings to ensure a massive lead.
India's second innings was built by a magnificent 167 by opener Gautam Gambhir, who batted for nearly six hours Saturday and Sunday for his second century of the series.
India resumed at 349 for five on Monday and added another 85 runs, with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ending unbeaten on 56 before he declared 75 minutes into the morning session.
Yuvraj scored a quick 40, including three consecutive fours and a six off one Iain O'Brien over.
Chris Martin had the best return for the New Zealand bowlers, finishing with three for 70 from 22 overs.
In reply, New Zealand lost their first wicket before lunch with opener Tim McIntosh becoming pace bowler Khan's sixth victim for the match.
McIntosh also became Rahul Dravid's world record 182nd catching victim after the batsman edged Khan into to the slips in the 11th over.
The veteran 36-year-old Dravid registered the world record for Test catches by a fielder, previously held by Australia's Mark Waugh.
Daniel Flynn also fell to Khan in the eighth over after lunch, getting an inside edge on a ball seaming into him, which then kissed into his pad and on to the stumps.
Taylor having scored just nine runs,survived an appeal for caught at short leg after initially being given out by umpire Simon Taufel in H arbhajan’s bowling.
Taufel had second thoughts, and referred the decision to the television umpire who ruled the ball hit the ground as it was scooped up by Gambhir.
Harbhajan soon struck back in the 31st over, trapping opener Martin Guptill lbw for 49 and getting a second wicket just two balls later.
Jesse Ryder suffered his second failure of the match -- following a century in the first Test and a double hundred in the second -- edging the offspinner to Dravid for a duck.
Scoreboard
India 1st innings 379 (S. Tendulkar 62, H. Singh 60, M.S. Dhoni 52, C. Martin 4-98, I. O'Brien 2-89)
New Zealand 1st innings 197 (R. Taylor 42, T. McIntosh 32, Z. Khan 5-65, Harbhajan Singh 3-43)
India 2nd innings
G. Gambhir lbw O'Brien 167
V. Sehwag c Taylor b Martin 12
R. Dravid c McCullum b Vettori 60
S. Tendulkar c Taylor b Vettori 9
VVS Laxman b O'Brien 61
Y. Singh c Taylor b Martin 40
MS Dhoni not out 56
H. Singh c Southee b Martin 0
Z. Khan not out 18
Extras lb 5, w 1, nb 5 11
Total 7 wickets declared, 116 overs 434
Fall of wkts 1-14, 2-184, 3-208, 4-314, 5-319, 6-397, 7-397
Bowling
Southee 12-2-58-0, Martin 22-7-70-3, O'Brien 25-6-100-2, Franklin 16-3-72-0, Ryder 6-1-21-0, Vettori 35-5-108-2
New Zealand 2nd innings
T. McIntosh c Dravid b Khan 4
M. Guptill lbw Harbhajan 49
D. Flynn b Khan 10
R. Taylor not out 69
J. Ryder c Dravid b Harbhajan 0
J. Franklin not out 26
Extras b 6, nb 3 9
Total four wickets, 56 overs 167
Fall of wkts 1-30, 2-54, 3-84, 4-84
Bowling
Khan 15-4-50-2, Patel 11-4-18-0, Sharma 6-1-33-0, Harbhajan Singh 17-5-36-2, Yuvraj Singh 1-0-4-0, Sehwag 6-0-20-0
Match position
India 379 and 434-7 declared, New Zealand 197 and 167-4
Series India lead 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment