India tour of New Zealand - March 2009

[SaiSrini]

Good innings from Gambhir though he missed a great opportunity to notch up a hundred in New Zealand. Dravid is looking quite good here. I would be delighted if he gets a hundred here. I have been so much hurt seeing a legend like him struggle in recent times.

A great combination is now on the hunt for India (Sachin-Dravid). If they stay in there for long, NZ will be pushed to depths of despair.

 

[Slowcoach]

Nice to see Dravid scoring runs and at a decent rate, maybe his horror run is behind him now.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yeah, so far in the second session Dravid has been close to a delight to watch (more so for the Indian fans).

Its a perfect batting track but there is some swing whenever the cloud cover comes. I feel India should get a lead of 60-70 by today. They have to work towards that. And I want a Dravid century. I will be very very happy.

 

[mattfb]

Top ball there, right on the spot and hit the top off off-stump. That is a real beauty there and the Kiwis are in a pretty good position.

 

[SaiSrini]

Dravid GONE!

Oh Damn! Was expecting him to get to a hundred here. He started to flow really well after the first session. But it was a great ball from Brien.

Top ball there, right on the spot and hit the top off off-stump. That is a real beauty there and the Kiwis are in a pretty good position.

I dont think so. India are still in a very good position. We have Laxman, Yuvraj, Dhoni and we have a pretty good score accumulated so far.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Dravid? Not happening! Off peg out of the ground and The Wall has been broken.

O'Brien too good. Very underrated bowler.

 

[TruSachFan]

Looks like the pitch is breaking up. It will be tailored for a bowler who goes by the name of Zaheer Khan to wreak havoc on day 4.

 

[Prithvi]

We deccan Chargers Moblie fan club people have got the following messages

Ind vs NZ,1st Test
Ind 197/3 @Tea
Sachin 25
Laxman 4
Will Laxman Make a century?whats ur say?sms to 56767888C ur_msg9rs.3

This is nothing but laxman's mania in HYD.....

But i don't like him.....

He should go out for less than 20 runs....

 

[SaiSrini]

Considering the way Vettori and Ryder batted yesterday, India are comparitively batting poorly today. Very slow run rate, they are batting at their own pace. Its a good batting wicket and you got to move it faster but we are not doing it. We are over dependent on Sehwag for the momentum.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Oh no plz India, dont let us see a repeat of Karachi 2006 where Irfan took that hattrick but the Pakistan lower order brought the team back in to eventually win the match.

When I saw the scorecard I actually thought about that. But that's not going to happen in this match, I would say.

India is going fine with a runrate of 3, although runs have really dried up at this moment at 230-3.

 

[SaiSrini]

Oh god! This is terrible. The run rate has dipped below 3. Are Laxman and Sachin nuts, or is NZ bowling really that well? I am not watching the game since tea because it has been terribly boring inspite of having Sachin bat in there. It was better when Dravid was in there (and I cant believe I would say this with Dravid's recent form)

 

[ZexyZahid]

One of these players should go out, or maybe even both, so Yuvraj Singh or/and Dhoni go get some quick runs. Imagine sitting there in the stadium and watching these maiden overs.

ZexyZahid added 12 Minutes and 39 Seconds later...

It seems they've listened to me, because Laxman is out.

This is funny. On the homepage I saw 'Martin strikes with second new ball'. When I clicked on the scorecard Laxman was still batting and it was 80.2. So cricinfo actually updated their front title before their commentary.

 

[SaiSrini]

Thank god Laxman is out. Once he got out, Tendulkar hit two fours on the trot. Hope that wicket brings in some much needed aggression in this innings, which has been lacking heavily so far. Its a good batting wicket and I dont know what we are trying to achieve by batting this slow.

 

[irottev]

Let's not forget that NZ have dropped some chances (toughish but need to be taken against this quality of player). India still in strong position but still have to bat last. A few wickets tomorrow morning and we're not that much behind really.

 

[SaiSrini]

Sachin is looking in ominous form, but you cant count on Yuvraj and Dhoni because both of them have not had almost any success outside the subcontinent in tests. Sachin has to shepherd the innings along till we reach a lead of over 100. We need a lead of over 100 definitely if we got to win this match. A lead of 150+ would seal it.

For that, Sachin has to play a match winning innings here. Even if this is not a 2nd innings, this innings of his can be match winning if he stays there for a long enough time. Today both Dravid and Sachin were great to watch and it would be lovely if Sachin can take us to the win that we need.