Ganguly steals show from centurions

SAS NAGAR, OCT 13: It was a day of aggression. It was a day of dour defence.It was a day where the needs of the teams shaped their attitu...

SAS NAGAR, OCT 13: It was a day of aggression. It was a day of dour defence.

It was a day where the needs of the teams shaped their attitudes. It was a day when India continued their inexorable march towards becoming the only dominant side of the Test. It was also a day where New Zealand, though ground to dust by the Indian batsmen — Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly — managed to keep their hopes of saving the match alive through dour, gritty and painstaking effort in the second half of the day’s play.

First things first. India added 202 runs in the three hours they batted, 87 coming in the post-lunch session. They declared at 505 for three, becoming the only side in the history of the game to make five hundred runs in the second essay after being dismissed under hundred in the first.

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Despite centuries from Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, the stellar role was performed by Saurav Ganguly. His silken caressing of the ball through the off side and hard swings towards the midwicket region fetched him 64runs in a jiffy, affording India three and a half sessions to get the Kiwis out.

Despite the loss of an early wicket, Matt Horne and Craig Spearman stuck to the task of presenting a tight defence to anything pitched at them, raising the possibility of this match ending in a draw.

The match was pregnant with possibilities in the morning, all of them centering around what attitude the Indian batsmen would adopt. The answer came from Rahul Dravid’s blade, who exhibited the trademark square cuts and meaty drives from the very first over. He raced to his sixth Test century, the first on home soil.

Tendulkar, whose fierce determination to stay at the wicket was evident from the way he concentrated throughout his unbeaten 20th Test century, was subdued by his exalted standards. The real floodgates were opened by Ganguly.

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The run-making graph shot up once he arrived and India had achieved what they must have set out to: Declare midway through the day’s play.

If India had envisaged an easy passage towardsvictory they were proved wrong. New Zealand began diffidently and lost Matthew Bell when only ten overs had been bowled. The Kiwis may feel aggrieved at umpire Peter Manuel’s decision, as the batsman was struck on the pads on the front foot. If Tendulkar was not out yesterday at the start of his innings in a similar situation, then Bell too should have received the benefit of doubt.

The wicket was still playing the odd trick or two, especially when the ball would keep very low, but its slowness has so far been the batsman’s best friend.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1st innings): 83

NEW ZEALAND (1st innings): 215

INDIA (2nd innings)

D Gandhi lbw Astle (6×4, 1336m, 242b) 75

S Ramesh c & b Vettori (7×4, 242m, 213b) 73

R Dravid b Vettori (18×4, 418m, 327b) 144

S Tendulkar not out (4×4, 397m, 248b) 126

S Ganguly not out (10×4, 1×6, 70m, 70b) 64.

Extras (b4, lb6, nb4) 14

Total (for 3 wkts decl) 505

Fall of wickets: 1-137 (Ramesh), 2-181 (Gandhi), 3-410 (Dravid)