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Chris Martin picked up his 9th five-wicket haul on a dramatic fourth day’s afternoon at Ahmedabad which has left India in the danger of losing the first Test Match against the unsung Kiwis! India are reeling in their second innings at 82 for 6 after finally bowling out Kiwis in their first innings for 459.
New Zealand started the fourth day’s play at 331 for 5 with debutant Kane Williamson dreaming about a century on Test Debut with just 13 more runs to get. Williamson achieved the feat with ease and continued to bat well in the company of his Skipper Daniel Vettori. The Kiwis lost only one wicket in the entire morning session when Williamson (131 from 299 balls with 10 fours) nicked his drive off a turning ball from Pragyan Ojha to MS Dhoni. New Zealand finished the first session at 417 for 6 in 144.3 overs.
In the second session, India wrapped up the Kiwi innings for 459 in 165.4 overs. Vettori was the first to go when he under edged a cut shot off Suresh Raina to Dhoni to exit on a personal score of 41 (from 95 balls with a four and a six). Pragyan Ojha delivered the next wicket when he trapped Gareth Hopkins (14) on the pad infront of off. The next wicket was taken by Sreesanth who cleaned up the stumps of Jeetan Patel and the innings came to a close when Zaheer Khan bowled left handed Hamish Bennett round his legs. Ojha was the most successful bowler for India with 53-14-107-4.
India’s second innings started on a bad note with Gautam Gambhir pushing away from his body and getting an inside edge onto the pad which was caught behind. Chris Martin got this first wicket in just the third ball of the innings sending Gambhir for a duck. Before Tea, there were two more wickets going down to leave India at a shocking 2 for 3 in 4.5 overs. Virender Sehwag was run out at the bowling end and Dravid forced to nick a superb away going seamer from Martin. Sehwag was unlucky as it was a good drive from Dravid to the left of mid off which deserved atleast a single but a diving stop from Guptill forced the two batsmen to change their mind and there was no time for Sehwag to get back to the bowling end.
There was further trouble for India in the final session when Sachin Tendulkar got bowled off the inside edge trying to drive Martin on the up and Suresh Raina looking to punch an outswinger from the same bowler to mid on got a thick edge which was brilliantly caught by Taylor at slip. India slipped into a huge mess of 15 for 5 with the lead only at 43. Skipper MS Dhoni entered the middle and with Laxman put up a promising stand of 50 before he chopped a rising delivery from Chris Martin onto the stumps. Dhoni failed to deliver the goods once again in this longer format of the game with a score of 22 (from 72 balls with a fours). By close of play, VVS Laxman (34*) and Harbhajan Singh (12*) ensured that India didn’t lose any further wickets by taking the score to 82 for 6 in 40 overs with the lead at 110.