Tim McIntosh slams century as New Zealand scores 258 for four

Tim McIntosh revived his fledgling career with a sedate century as New Zealand came up with a gritty batting display to find themselves in a comfortable position in the second cricket Test against India here today.

McIntosh notched up his second Test century while Martin Guptill produced a fluent 85 as the visitors reached 258 for four in their first innings at close on the opening day on a placid track at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.

Centurion in the first Test, Jesse Ryder was batting on 22, while giving him company was wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins who is yet to open his account.

McIntosh would however be disappointed as the Kiwi, after recording his century, got out when Zaheer Khan delivered with the second new ball at the fag end of the day.

Guptill had earlier smashed a fluent 85 off 160 balls to lead New Zealand's recovery after S Sreesanth gave India an early breakthrough by removing Brendon McCullum with a peach of delivery.

For McIntosh, after recording a pair in the series opener at Motera, this was an opportunity to get back among runs and the opener grabbed it with both hands.

He got off the mark with a boundary through cover and produced 10 delectable shots along the ground and a lofted six over the region between long-on and deep midwicket.

During his stay at the wicket, the 30-year-old was involved in two important partnerships. The opener first raised 147 runs for the second wicket with Guptill during which he seemed content to play second fiddle to his more aggressive partner, and then, he was associated in another half-century stand with Taylor.

McIntosh was a picture of patience during his gritty knock and at times looked out of sorts but Guptill, in stark contrast, played with a lot more freedom and dominated proceedings without ever playing a false shot.

The hosts, desperately aiming to wrest the initiative from the visitors after escaping defeat in the first Test at Motera, got off to a perfect start with Sreesanth removing McCullum as early as the fourth over of the match of the match.

The ball straightened after landing on middle and off and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni gleefully accepted the edge from the dashing New Zealand opener, who had smashed the bowler through cover point to open his account.

Sreesanth could have had another one to his name but for an overstepped no-ball. Guptill was on his way out after being done in by a typical Sreesanth outswinger but on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena belatedly called the batsman back after confirming with TV replays that the bowler had overstepped.

Sreesanth followed that up with another Jaffa that was too good to induce an edge off Guptill’s bat. The maverick pacer, in the middle of an outstanding spell, could do nothing and had to be content with just a glare at the hapless batsman.

New Zealand needed that kind of luck after McCullum’s early departure and once Guptill was given not out, the Kiwis were on their way, reaching the 50 in 89 minutes and the 100 in 152 minutes.

The duo of Guptill and McIntosh, after seeing off a testing spell of swing bowling from Sreesanth during which they got two reprieves and were made to work hard for the runs, settled down in the post-lunch session to get New Zealand’s innings back on track.

Ross Taylor, who came in after Ojha had Guptill trapped in front for a well-crafted 85 that was laced with nine sweetly-timed hits to the fence and a six over long-off, was giving McIntosh company at the tea break.

But Taylor’s innings was cut short by Zaheer in the session after tea.

Guptill was elegance personified during his stay at the wicket and each of his sweetly timed shots was a treat to watch. If the massive six over long off smacked of aggression, the straight drives off S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan in the post-lunch session were a purists’ delight.

The Kiwi, in fact, welcomed Zaheer, who replaced Sreesanth in the post-lunch session, with a straight drive.

In between, he flayed Ojha striking the left-arm spinner through the point and cover region for a boundary before getting to his fifty with a ferocious square cut off the same bowler.