Saturday, March 28, 2009

India Followed on in the Second Test against New Zealand

New Zealand continues its dominance over India at the end of the third day of the second test. Today, India got all out for 305 in the first innings and was forced to follow on. At stumps, India scored 47 runs losing the wicket of opener Virender Sehwag who got played on off Jeetan Patel on 22 and India still needs 267 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Gambhir and Dravid are batting on 14 and 11 respectively.

No doubt, India is now on the verge of losing the match. It is not that Indian batsmen failed to settle down in the wicket due to fiery bowling by Kiwi bowlers. The problem is that a number of batsmen got set in the wicket and then threw away their wickets. India needed some big scores to avoid a follow on. Dravid played an excellent innings of 83 before making a mistake when he edged Ryder to wicketkeeper McCullum. Tendulkar also got out off Patel just one run short to his fifty, while Laxman was dismissed by Martin on 76 when he looked pretty much settled.

Chris Martin picked up 3 wickets for New Zealand, while Vettori, Patel and O’Brien all took 2 wickets each. India is now under pressure and is facing a seemingly defeat in the second test. Now, India has to show that they have the ability to bounce back from any situation and in their pursuit to overtake Australia to become the no. 1 team, this is a good opportunity for Indian team.

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