McCullum reaches historic triple
Wellington: India ended their ignominious tour of New Zealand by drawing the second and final Test after home team skipper Brendon McCullum became the first Kiwi batsman to hit a triple-century and stage an incredible turnaround to clinch the two-match series 1-0, here on Tuesday.
McCullum struck a historic 302, while BJ Watling made 124 and debutant James Neesham scored an unbeaten 137 as New Zealand declared their second innings at 680 for eight, giving India an improbable 435 runs to chase in little over two sessions of play.
India overcame some anxious moments before finishing at 166 for three in 52 overs as the two captains decided to call off the proceedings with no result in sight.
Virat Kohli smashed his sixth Test century and remained unbeaten on 105, while Rohit Sharma was not out on 31.
It turned out to be a disastrous tour for India as they remained winless, losing the ODI series 0-4 and the Test series 0-1 following their 40-run loss in the first Test at Auckland.
India looked like winning this Test match after reducing New Zealand to 94 for five in their second innings but McCullum staged a remarkable fightback and together with Watling shared a world record partnership of 352 runs for the sixth wicket to take the hosts to safety.
After Watling’s departure, McCullum stitched another crucial 179-run stand with Neesham for the seventh wicket to take the match beyond India’s reach.
McCullum’s 302 runs overtook Martin Crowe’s 299 scored against Sri Lanka, also at the same ground, in 1991 to become highest individual Test scorer for New Zealand.
It was also the third-highest innings by a number five batsman in Test cricket after Michael Clarke’s 329 not out against India in 2012 and Sir Don Bradman’s 304 against England in 1934.
Dhoni, who has invariably come out with bizarre explanations for the team’s shoddy performances at press conferences, again ignored to dwell on the bowling frailties and came to the rescue of his “fantastic” bowlers who gave away 680 runs in second innings, saying that they bowled “in the right areas”.
Summing up what has turned out to be a disastrous tour, Dhoni said he was disappointed with the ODI results as they failed to capitalise on situations but was more satisfied with the performance of his “young” team in the Test matches.
“Overall, quite a good performance. We have been improving right from South Africa. We have shown that we are a side that’s very talented,” said Dhoni.
“We did well in the series, in this Test because we fought back pretty well ourselves. We bowled the right areas, which I think is very important on the flat wickets,” he said.
“[I] appreciate what Brendon and Watling did – soak up the pressure when we were bowling well and score freely once the bowlers were tired,” Dhoni added.
McCullum spoke of his record-breaking innings, saying he’ll remember it forever.
“It was a moment, when the 300 came up and the applause was ongoing for quite a while, it is really when it hit home to me that it was quite a significant achievement for a New Zealander and I’ll certainly remember them for the rest of my life,” he added. (PTI)