Second new ball wickets were crucial: Dhoni
Auckland: India conjured up hopes of a record run chase before a collapse saw the visitors slump to a 40-run defeat against New Zealand in the thrilling first Test, handing a 1-0 lead to the hosts in the two-match series here on Sunday.
Chasing 407 to win, India resumed their second innings at 87 for one and the visitors were on course with Shikhar Dhawan (115) and Virat Kohli (67) sharing 126 runs for the third wicket, but pacer Neil Wagner took four crucial wickets in the post-lunch session to derail India’s chase at Eden Park.
After a series of low scores, Dhawan returned to form as he cracked a patient century and anchored the Indian innings along with Kohli, who also looked in good touch.
But Wagner’s double blow left India tottering at 270/5 at tea and it was left to skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, who launched a counterattack to leave the Kiwis dazed.
But once they departed India failed to overhaul the target as they were dismissed for 366 in 96.3 overs.
Wagner (4-62) took the wickets of Dhawan, Kohli, Zaheer Khan (17) and Dhoni (39) to return with a eight-wicket haul from the match, while Tim Southee (3-81) added three wickets to his three-wicket haul of the first innings. Trent Boult (3-86) also contributed with a three-wicket haul.
Earlier, India started the day still in need of 320 runs and Dhawan and Pujara looked to provide them a solid start.
In the very first over of the day, Dhawan reached his half-century, getting the milestone ticked off early, facing 75 balls and hitting five fours.
Dhawan had a shaky start as he survived a couple of LBW shouts, even through they seemed to be sailing over the stumps.
The Kiwis were bowling a nagging line and length, especially Southee and he was soon rewarded in the fifth over of the morning, he bowled a near-perfect delivery to Pujara who could do nothing but play at it and edged it the keeper.
Pujara was out for 23 runs (71 balls, 1 four, 1 six), leaving a mountain to be climbed for the rest of the batsmen.
Kohli then came out to bat and patiently saw off Southee’s super spell of 6-3-4-1. At the other end, Dhawan too continued to bat cautiously as the 100-run mark came for the chase in the 32nd over. They tempered their batting according to the situation, mixing aggression with defence.
Dhoni felt that losing wickets of the second new ball including a poor umpiring decision, proved to be a decisive factor.
India lost Rahane and Rohit Sharma off the second new ball, on either side of the tea-break that became costly in the final outcome of the match.
Rahane was adjudged leg-before of Trent Boult despite a big inside edge.
“I am having mixed emotions about this Test match. Close to the 85th over, we lost a few wickets at that point and we had a tough decision (Rahane) at the same time which meant we were short of 30-35 runs and that was the crucial phase,” Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.
Under Dhoni, India have now lost 10 out of their last 11 overseas Test matches but the skipper said that one close Test like this serves as an experience for three to four normal Test matches.
“Tight games like these give you the experience of three-four Test matches. You learn about the need to break the target down session by session. Hopefully, there will be plenty of players in our dressing room who must have learned a lot out of it,” the skipper said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum was a relieved man after his decision not to enforce follow-on did not lead to his team’s defeat.
“We thought we have a big total and if we bowl well, that would be enough runs. We know the quality of their batsmen and how they are capable of putting together big scores and big partnerships. At one stage, when they were sitting 220 for two, we were starting to get ourselves behind the eight-ball and it took something special to get us out of that,” McCullum said after the match.
“We respect the Indian team a lot for what they have done and where they sit in the world rankings and that’s what makes this victory so special.” (PTI)
SCORECARD
New Zealand 1st inn: 503
India 1st inn: 202
New Zealand 2nd inn: 105
India 2nd inn: (o’night 87/1)
M Vijay c Watling b Southee 13
S Dhawan c Watling b Wagner 115
C Pujara c Watling b Southee 23
V Kohli c Watling b Wagner 67
R Sharma c Watling b Southee 19
A Rahane lbw Boult 18
MS Dhoni b Wagner 39
R Jadeja c Sodhi b Boult 26
Zaheer c Taylor b Wagner 17
Ishant c Watling b Boult 4
M Shami not out 0
Extras: (nb-4, w-2, b-12, lb-7) 25
Total: (all out; 96.3 overs) 366
FOW: 1-36, 2-96, 3-222, 4-248, 5-268, 6-270, 7-324, 8-349, 9-362
Bowlers: Boult 23.3-2-86-3; Southee 23-4-81-3; Wagner 25-8-62-4; Anderson 7-1-22-0; Sodhi 15-2-78-0; Williamson 3-0-18-0