28 March 2009

New Zealand bowled India out for 305 and having asked them to follow on, reduced them to 47 for one in their second innings on day three of the second Test in Napier.

New Zealand, thanks to 201 from Jesse Ryder and 115 from Brendon McCullum, posted 619 for nine declared.

India resumed on 79 for three and looked in good shape with Rahul Dravid (83) and Sachin Tendulkar (49) adding 87 for the fourth wicket before Tendulkar was caught by Ross Taylor off Jeetan Patel.

India rebuilt again with a stylish half-century from VVS Laxman, who stroked 76 in 149 balls with 14 fours, guiding them towards the 250 mark but the loss of Dravid sparked a collapse. Dravid was caught behind off of Ryder's medium pace and fast bowlers Chris Martin (3-89) and Iain O'Brien (2-66) then removed the remaining five batsmen for the concession of just 49 runs.

Laxman, Yuvraj Singh (0) and Dinesh Karthik (6) fell to Martin while O'Brien dismissed Harbhajan Singh (18) and Zaheer Khan (8), leaving Munaf Patel unbeaten on nought.

Captain Daniel Vettori, who along with Patel also picked up two wickets, had no hesitation in enforcing the follow on and it was Patel who made the breakthrough when he had Virender Sehwag trapped in front for 22 shortly before the close of play.

Gautam Gambhir (14) and Dravid (11) will resume tomorrow.

India lead the three-match series 1-0.

© Cricket World 2009

India In New Zealand 2008/9