da realbet： The Wellington weather and a Ross Taylor century defied India asthe third Test ended in a draw with New Zealand eight wickets down
da spicy bet： The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran07-Apr-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outSachin Tendulkar took two wickets shortly before lunch to give New Zealand a scare•Getty Images
The Wellington weather and a Ross Taylor century defied India asthe third Test ended in a draw with New Zealand eight wickets down. ZaheerKhan had bowled just one delivery with the second new ball when the rainforced the players off the field 20 minutes after lunch, and they wouldn’treturn. India were left to reflect on three dropped catches, while NewZealand might have argued that they were due a bit of luck after twodecisions went against them. The draw might have been an unsatisfactoryresult, but it still sealed a first Indian series win in New Zealand in 41years.They could have won it even before the heavens opened though. Tim Southeewas given out caught behind off Harbhajan Singh, though the noise that gotall the close-in fielders excited was actually bat hitting pad. Momentslater, it was New Zealand that were the beneficiaries of umpiringlargesse. Harbhajan turned one sharply and Daniel Vettori was palpablyplumb, but Simon Taufel thought otherwise.When Ishant Sharma then grassed a simple chance at square leg after IainO’Brien had slogged Tendulkar, the Indians might have known it wasn’t tobe their day. Soon after, Zaheer came on and so did the rain. And that wasthat.The story of the morning had been Sachin Tendulkar. It had taken MS Dhoni76 overs to give the ball to him, but two wickets shortly before lunch inan extended morning session put the smiles back on Indian faces after a142-run partnership between Taylor and James Franklin had kept them atbay. New Zealand were also left to ponder a poor decision against BrendonMcCullum as their struggle for survival was compromised in a crazy passageof play just before the interval.Zaheer had an early shout for leg-before against Franklin turned down, butthe theme of the first hour was stout resistance. Taylor continued tofeast on short and wide offerings from Ishant, and the Indian mooddidn’t improve when Gautam Gambhir failed to hold on to a chance at shortleg after Franklin had popped one up off bad and pad. New Zealand added 38before the drinks break, and soon after an airy flick down to fine leg offHarbhajan got Taylor to his century from just 158 balls.Tendulkar was introduced soon after, but the frustration continued asFranklin edged one past slip for four. And it was left to the frontlinespinner to strike, though relying on drift rather than turn to get the jobdone. Taylor’s attempt to push the ball away was stymied by the movementthrough the air and Harbhajan’s celebrations were certainly not muted ashe yorked the key obstacle in India’s path.Soon after, Munaf Patel put down McCullum at mid-off off Tendulkar, butthe second chance didn’t go a long way. A ripping leg break spun past thebat and through to slip via Dhoni’s gloves, but the impact of bat on theground fooled the umpire into upholding India’s appeal. And if that was aserious blow to New Zealand’s hopes, worse was to follow, as Franklin whohad eased his way to 49 was trapped in front by another delivery thatturned sharply into him. As at Adelaide five years earlier, Tendulkar had compensated for an average performance with the bat by turning into theman with the golden arm. But even he could do nothing about the weather.
