Wellington, Feb 16:Dropped catches by the Indians enabled New Zealand to stage a remarkable recovery, built on skipper Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten century, on the third day of the second Test although the visitors still hold the upperhand.
Facing a massive first innings deficit of 248, the home side was tottering at 94 for five but McCullum (not out 114) was dropped by Virat Kohli on 9 and by Ishant Sharma off his own bowling when he was 36.
McCullum and B J Watling (52 not out) could not be separated thereafter and had put on an unbeaten 158-run sixth-wicket partnership to give their side a slender lead of six runs with five wickets standing.
McCullum pulled the team out of early trouble and made full use of two reprieves to battle his way to 114 off 237 balls and together with Watling, who scored an equally important 52 off 208 balls, led a brilliant fightback to keep New Zealand afloat.
McCullum and Watling guided New Zealand to 252 for five in 99 overs at stumps on the third day.
The pitch on offer today at the Basin Reserve was a far cry from the juicy green surface of the first day and was a perfect platform for New Zealand to wipe out the huge deficit after India made 438 in their first innings in reply to the hosts’ 192.
But the start of the day was far from rosy for the Black Caps as veteran pacer Zaheer Khan inflicted early damage by removing two wickets in the opening session to reduce New Zealand to 87 for four at lunch.
The post-lunch session too started on a precarious note for New Zealand as they lost Corey Anderson (2) cheaply before McCullum and Watling joined hands to bail them out and ensured that India will have to come out to bat again in their second innings.
But with two full day’s play remaining and New Zealand leading India by just six runs with five wickets in hand, the visitors will still fancy their chances to level the series after the hosts won the first Test by 40 runs at Auckland.
Zaheer (3/60) was the pick of the bowlers for India, charging his way throughout the day, albeit losing steam in the final session.
Ishant Sharma (0/63) and Mohammad Shami (1/72) did much of the horse work while Ravindra Jadeja (1/49) bowled a whopping 26 overs, the most of all the four Indian bowlers.
If the first session belonged to India, the next two sessions, especially the post-tea period, was all New Zealand’s as McCullum and Watling batted with utmost cautious to frustrate the Indians. (PTI)
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