Sunday, Dec 15, 2002
Sunday, Dec 15, 2002 |
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Cricket
By S. Dinakar
TRAPPED: Shane Bond is ecstatic after nailing Virender Sehwag on the third day of the first Test in Wellington on Saturday. Bond breathed fire as India slid to an embarrassing defeat. — Photo:N. Balaji
When the first National Bank Test was still in the balance, a star-studded line-up got skittled out in 38.1 overs for 121, on a seaming track with bounce, that any visiting team should only expect to encounter in New Zealand. It was a display bereft of character, determination and application, and that which lacked the will to fight, especially after the bowlers, led by the lion-hearted Zaheer Khan, who registered his first five-wicket haul, had restricted New Zealand to 247, providing India more than a glimmer of hope. The opening Test of the National Bank series here at the Basin Reserve thus finished well inside three days on Saturday. With Stephen Fleming's men, requiring just 36 to take the lead in the series, openers Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent knocked off the runs without much fuss. With a sizable holiday crowd roaring in delight, Richardson cracked Aashish Nehra to the point boundary to make New Zealand's 300th Test a memorable one for the host. Pace spearhead Shane Bond made the early inroads in a match-winning pre-lunch burst of 8-5-8-3, Daryll Tuffey and Jacob Oram got into the picture after the break before Bond had Sachin Tendulkar inner-edging a drive to his stumps to end the Indian innings. Tendulkar (51, 74b, 7x4), not quite at his best, was beginning to find his range and timing but with wickets falling at the other end he was forced into a false stroke at the end of the Indian innings. It was a day when the seriously quick Bond had opened up the Indian batting with a scorching inswinging yorker castling No. 3 Rahul Dravid, so vital in the Indian scheme of things. However, there was a rare error of judgment from Dravid as he attempted a big drive in the early stages of his innings; in most instances he would have chosen to dig the toe-crusher out. Adrift by 86, the Indians had every opportunity to make a fight of it had they applied themselves to the task on hand, but then the side capitulated under pressure, the shot-selection of the batsmen leaving much to be desired. Richardson is man of the match The Indians had to tighten their game, play close to their body, and grind out the attack, much like what Man of the Match Mark Richardson had done in the New Zealand innings. But they came up woefully short, indecisive in their feet movement, not quite certain in the `corridor of uncertainty,' and were done in as much by bounce as seam movement. In the Hamilton Test that begins on December 19, on what is likely to be a similar pitch, the Indians would have to cut out the frills and concentrate hard on percentage cricket, convincing themselves that playing away from the body, or across the line, would be suicidal in these conditions. At the Basin Reserve on Saturday the Indians had to get through 15 overs before lunch, but things went horribly wrong after Virender Sehwag departed, trapped leg-before, choosing to play Bond on the leg-side rather than with a straight bat. Bangar, getting behind the line and preferring the vertical blade, presented a more solid picture before Jacob Oram won a leg-before verdict with a delivery that held its line even as the batsman shaped to push forward. Bond had the wind behind him, which may have been a factor in the ball swinging in so sharply and crashing into Dravid's stumps, and then leaving the left-handed Sourav Ganguly for 'keeper Robbie Hart to hold the nick. India was reeling at 35 for four going into lunch, and its comeback hopes were being snuffed out rapidly by the rampaging Bond. V.V.S. Laxman, going through the horrors in the Test, bagged a `pair', edging Oram to Fleming at first slip, the batsman's feet static. Tendulkar, who was at the receiving end of a debatable decision in the first innings, had his share of good fortune this time around, playing on to Bond at three. He did not hear umpire Asoka de Silva's late and questionable no-ball call and had already started his trek back when an alert Parthiv Patel at the non-striker's end conveyed the message quickly to the master batsman. Minutes later, Tendulkar's (on seven now) edged drive flew dangerously close to a leaping Jacob Oram at gully. Half the side was back for a miserable 36, however. The little Patel did bat compactly, and his partnership of 30 for the sixth wicket with Tendulkar turned out to be the highest of the innings. It was Tuffey who ended the stand, with a lovely delivery on Parthiv's off-stump, the ball holding its line before flying into a diving Fleming's hands at first slip. With Tendulkar still around, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan had to display a willingness to stay, but they got out to fancy strokes, Agarkar brilliantly taken at deep point by McMillan, and Harbhajan and Zaheer guiding and cutting into the `cordon.' Tendulkar, who almost pulled into short-midwicket's hands at 36, finally got into his stride in Bond's 13th over, off-driving, steering and cover-driving the paceman for boundaries to reach his half century before Kiwi ace prised him out in his next over. Like in the first innings, New Zealand's pace pack hit the right length and operated to a plan, with Tuffey and Oram having to bowl against the wind. Earlier in the day, the lion-hearted Zaheer had bowled with much fire, trapping Mark Richardson leg-before with the second new ball, denying the in-form left-handed opener a century in the process. Not much later, Zaheer let out a war cry, clenched his fists in delight and within minutes his teammates converged on him. The left-armer had snared Vettori, who made useful runs, outside the off-stump for 'keeper Parthiv Patel to hold a smart catch. Zaheer had also taken the monkey off his back. As the spearhead of the Indian pace-attack, it was important for Zaheer to register his first five-wicket haul in Tests that arrived after a three-year wait. Yet, it must have been a pretty unpleasant and bizarre feeling for the paceman when he ran in to bowl, less than three hours after New Zealand was dismissed. This was a Test where the much pilloried Indian attack was let down by the much glorified Indian batting.
India bowling: Zaheer 25-8-53-5 (w-1, nb-3); Nehra 19-4-50-0 (nb-3); Agarkar 13.1-1-54-1 (w-1); Bangar 15-4-23-2; Harbhajan 17-4-33-2; Ganguly 2-0-11-0 (nb-2).
New Zealand bowling: Bond 13.1-5-33-4 (nb-1); Tuffey 9-3-35-3 (nb-1); Oram 11-3-28-3 (nb-5); Styris 5-0-24-0.
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