Indian openers make a solid start; New Zealand all-out for 193

Kushan Sarkar
Nagpur, Nov 21 (PTI) India's Virender Sehwag send the New
Zealand bowlers on a leather hunt as he blasted his way to
26th half century in Test cricket with India reaching 89 for
no loss at lunch, in reply to New Zealand's modest first
innings score of 193, on the second day of the third Test here
Sunday.
At the break, Sehwag was batting on 55 with the help of
nine boundaries and a six while Gautam Ganbhir hit a few crisp
boundaries to reach 31. They now trail by only 104 runs.
When Sehwag plays his natural game, the margin of error
is very less for the opposition bowlers. Time and again the
Black Caps bowlers have suffered in the hands of Sehwag and it
wasn't any different during the first session as he started
off punching Tim Southee through the vacant cover region for a
boundary.
Chris Martin who has troubled the Indian batsmen with
some incisive spells was then pulled twice to the mid-wicket
region for a couple of boundaries.
Whenever the New Zealand pacers Martin, Southee or
debutant Andy McKay tried to add an extra yard of pace, they
were guided over the slips through the vacant third man region
with minimum fuss.
When skipper Vettori came into bowl, the Nawab of
Najafgarh danced down the track to clear the long-on ropes. He
also played quite a few delightful late cuts off the spinner.
With loose hands he would just steer the ball in the gap
between the keeper and the first slip. He completed his half
century off 50 deliveries.
Gambhir, who was named captain of the Indian team for the
first two ODIs, also grew in confidence as he clipped Southee
to square leg boundaries. He also hit a lovely cover drive off
McKay who did trouble the left-hander as he brought a few back
into the batsman.
Earlier, Ishant Sharma quickly dismissed Brendon McCullum
(40, 84 balls, 4x4) to ensure that the Kiwi tail doesn't wag
for long at the VCA Stadium at Jamtha here.
McCullum, who is suffering from back spasms didn't look
any better than yesterday as he came out to bat. A shot past a
diving Virender Sehwag at gully got him a boundary.
The bowler Ishant, however had the last laugh when he hit
one back of length and cramped McCullum who went for another
cut shot only to edge it to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind
stumps. MORE PTI