SPORT-LD NZ 2LST

Stand-in skipper Taylor held the fort even as wickets
kept falling in at the other end with Yuvraj doing a great job
for India with his slow left-arm orthodox spin.
Taylor and Kane Williamson (19) looked good during their
67-run third wicket stand but Yuvraj did not let the
partneship going.
Just when Taylor was beginning to look dangerous with his
towering sixes, Ashwin gave the crucial breakthrough as New
Zealand were reduced to 154 for seven after 33.3 overs.
Earlier Kiwi new ball bowlers, Mills and Tuffey,
extracted some fine seam movements early on as openers Vijay
(29 from 32 balls, 5x4) and Gambhir (38 from 38 balls, 6x4)
survived some anxious moments in the early morning start.
The Indian duo however did not look under any pressure in
absence of Virender Sehwag as they stitched 44 for the opening
wicket before Vijay was done in by Tuffey with wicketkeeper
Gareth Hopkins taking a brilliant catch running backwards.
Kohli settled soon his second-wicket partnership of 48
did not last long with Gambhir falling in a soft dismissal to
McKay.
Due for a big knock, Yuvraj was slow and watchful to
start that saw India scoring just 17 in the five overs in the
bowling powerplay from 10-15 overs.
Having consumed 28 balls for his first eight runs, Yuvraj
opened up to the New Zealand spin attack that missed Vettori
sorely as Nathan McCullum and Kane Williamson bowled their
conventional off-breaks.
Kohli, meanwhile, raced to his ninth half-century in a
rather nondescript way but he ensured that they were on track
for a big total.
In their 88-run stand for the third wicket, Kohli was
compact and flexible in rotating the strike while Yuvraj
looked to score in boundaries before he edged one behind the
stumps.
A jaded Suresh Raina (13, 1x4) continued with his poor
Test run into the ODIs, as the southpaw lasted 18 balls before
becoming Mills' victim.
After Kohli's dismissal for 250 in the last ball of 44th
over, the Indian inexperience showed as the lower order
collapsed.
Yusuf Pathan played a cameo of 29 from 19 balls laced
with three fours and one six, as debutant Wriddhiman Saha (4),
Ravichandran Ashwin (0), Ashish Nehra (0) and Sreesanth (1)
were dismissed cheaply.
But the total was enough to rattle New Zelanders who
missed their regular skipper Vettori and opener McCullum badly
to trail in the five-match series 0-1.
India have rested their star performers including skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag,
Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh who were not considered due to
injury concerns. PTI