Nagpur Test: India high on pacemakers

A soggy outfield near the pavilion end, a result of rain the previous day, forced a little more than a two-hour delay to start of the third Test. However, India’s bowlers made up for the lost time as they pegged back the New Zealanders.

Captain Daniel Vettori had a scare when his main batsman, Brendon McCullum, suffered back spasms during warm-up. After confirming his player was alright, the skipper continued with the toss.

Electing to bat on what MS Dhoni had labelled as a dry wicket, Vettori saw some of his batsmen fall to good fast bowling, while he gifted his wicket away.

In the absence of Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth led the attack and sent back the two openers in his superlative first spell that put New Zealand on the back foot, from which they never really recovered on Day One. Visitors were 148 for seven at stumps at the VCA Stadium on Saturday.

Jesse Ryder scored a fighting 59 and added 42 runs for the seventh wicket with McCullum, which was the highest stand of the day.

However, the promising knock was cut short about half an hour before stumps. A rush of blood saw the southpaw go on his back foot to cut Harbhajan Singh through the offside but ended up sending it straight to Suresh Raina at mid-off. It capped a good day for India’s bowlers.

The hosts, under fire for their poor bowling, replied to some of the questions. After a couple of overs, that saw both of them bowl a bit wide and off the mark, Sreesanth sent one short of length that straightened a bit cramping opener Martin Guptill for space. He played inside the line and edged the ball that found itself safely ensconced in Dhoni’s gloves.

The Kerala pacer next castled Tim McIntosh with a delivery pitching on middle and off and moved in. The experienced duo of Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder tried to steady the ship with a few aggressive cuts and wristy flicks that fetched some boundaries.

But after the drinks, change in the bowling worked for Sharma as he trapped Taylor in front of the stumps with a ball that jagged in from outside off and hit him below the knee roll.

The afternoon saw some clouds gather and the threat of another spell of showers seemed real. However, the weather cleared and the sun shined through. But there were no bright spots in the New Zealand batting.

Vettori has seen his tag of the world’s best No 8 batsman being stolen by Harbhajan Singh. He would have liked to make amends.

But he did himself no good trying to go for a shot, which would make even T20 coaches shudder.

Vettori tried to pull a short one outside the off-stump. He was nowhere close to the ball and ended up dragging it on to his stumps.

It remains to be seen if McCullum, batting down the order, will actually prove to be blessing in disguise for the Kiwis.