Steady India all set for first innings lead

Half centuries from Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar has put India on brink of overhauling the Kiwi first innings total of 279. The visitors are nicely placed at 278 for 4 at stumps on Day 2 with Sachin Tendulkar batting on 70 along with Yuvraj Singh who survived a tricky passage of play.

Morning Session: Gambhir, Dravid lay foundation

Play started 15 minutes late due to overnight rain. India resumed on 29/0 and was off to a good start from Sehwag and Gambhir until a run out spoilt the party in the 10th over. Gautam Gambhir misjudged a second run in his cover drive and Sehwag (24 from 21 balls) had to pay the penalty at the non-striker’s end after getting beaten by a brilliant direct throw from Franklin. Fortunately for India, the next batsman Rahul Dravid showed no signs of struggle and along with Gambhir could lay a perfect foundation. The New Zealand bowling wasn’t penetrative enough, often they released the pressure by either providing long hops or bowling loose ones onto the pads. The visitors finished the morning session at 108 for 1 in 32 overs with Gambhir on 58 and Dravid on 23.

Afternoon Session: Kiwis fightback but India still on top

The New Zealanders got an important breakthrough in the 42nd over when Gautam Gambhir lost his concentration to fall to an ambitious drive off Chris Martin. The southpaw scored a sweet 72 from 135 balls with 11 fours besides adding 105 for the 2nd wicket with Dravid. India got another solid partnership going through Dravid and Tendulkar but the Kiwis managed to break it when Iain O’Brien got an incoming delivery to take the off stump of the former. Dravid did the slightest mistake of pulling his knee inwards to create a bat pad gap in his defensive shot. He had to settle with a score of 66 (from 138 balls) with 12 fours. Just few minutes before Tea, Sachin Tendulkar gave a massive scare when his forcible pull shot of Vettori didn’t come too well and was almost converted into a catch by Daniel Flynn who ran from mid wicket to pull that off. India went to Tea at 197 for 3 in 61 overs with Sachin on 25 and Laxman on 4.

Final Session: India crawl towards 279

The final session was dominated by the combination of James Franklin and Jesse Ryder, who kept on bowling to their field. Despite getting many driving opportunities, VVS Laxman failed to find the gaps and score runs at a healthy pace. Sachin Tendulkar on the other hand was playing some intelligent cut shots to help in some scoring. The two right handers looked hard to be dismissed but the partnership was quite slow and the New Zealanders were allowed to sneak through. New Zealand struck with the second new ball when VVS Laxman edged Chris Martin to first slip to make it 238 for 4. Laxman had made 30 (from 91 balls with 4 fours) in a partnership of 61 with Tendulkar in 28 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar along with Yuvraj Singh saw India through the final phase of the day’s play which was shortened due to bad light. Sachin moved onto 70 (from 135 balls with 11 fours) while Yuvraj Singh looked confident for his 8 (from 30 balls). India finished Day 2 at 278 for 4 in 90.5 overs. The New Zealand bowling wasn’t consistent enough in putting the pressure on the batsmen, at the most they were good in curtailing the scoring rate. Skipper Daniel Vettori couldn’t trouble the batsmen at all, another senior bowler Kyle Mills also struggled to create any impression on the batsmen.