Kohli saves India blushes, NZL win series
20 Feb 2014 5:02 AM IST
Virat Kohli’s century helped India draw the second and final Test but New Zealand clinched the series 1-0 at the Basin Reserve on Tuesday. Aided by Brendon McCullum’s triple century, the Black Caps achieved their highest ever total of 680 for eight declared, handing India a target of 435 runs.
India were in a spot of bother at 54 for three but Kohli’s (105 not out) sixth ton took India to safety, with the visitors ending Day 5 at 166/3. There was a records galore Tuesday with the hosts posting their highest ever total in Tests, McCullum (302) becoming the first New Zealander to get past the 300-mark.
The 32-year-old also became the highest individual scorer for the Kiwis, surpassing legendary Martin Crowe’s 299 against Sri Lanka here in 1991 while New Zealand’s colossal total outscored their previous best of 671/4, also in the same Test. Resuming the day at 571 for six, McCullum patiently put on 19 more runs in the morning session to complete his triple century while all-rounder Jimmy Neesham scored a century on debut, remaining unbeaten on 137.
The New Zealand skipper’s knock puts him behind only Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad’s 337 in the highest second innings score list. The Kiwi duo continued their good work from Day 4, extending the seventh-wicket partnership to 179 runs before McCullum edged a Zaheer Khan delivery to India skipper MS Dhoni, bringing to an end a match-saving innings.
The stadium rose to applaud the batsman’s effort as the Indian fielders walked up to congratulate him.The Dunedin-born raised his bat to acknowledge the greetings of the crowd before walking back into the pavilion. Man of the Match McCullum hit 32 boundaries and four sixes in his epic 559-ball innings. Zaheer scalped Tim Southee (11) shortly after to take the 11th fifer of his career. Neesham put on 41 more runs with Neil Wagner (2 not out) before New Zealand declared their innings.
The visitors were immediately put on the backfoot, losing both openers Murali Vijay (7) and Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Cheteshwar Pujara (17) early but Kohli played a brilliant innings to ensure India don’t slip down further.
MS defends bowlers, finds show ‘quite good’
Wellington: India frittered away a golden chance of winning the second Test against New Zealand but skipper MS Dhoni inexplicably continued to defend his listless bowlers and even found the team’s display during the winless tour as ‘quite a good performance’.
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. 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.
Having bundled out the Black Caps for 192 in the first innings and taken a 246-run lead, India looked like winning the second Test, as they reduced New Zealand to 94 for five in their second innings. But Brendon McCullum (302) staged a remarkable fightback and together with BJ Watling shared a world record partnership of 352 runs for the sixth wicket to take the hosts to safety. ‘In the first Test our second innings was brilliant. And then we came here won the toss and bowled really well in the first innings. In the second innings also we got a good start till Brendon and Watling came in. I don’t think it was bad bowling but it is just that they kept the good deliveries out. Appreciate what Brendon and Watling did, soak up the pressure when we were bowling well and score freely once the bowlers were tired,’ he added.
‘We bowled for two and a half days. We tried everything, all fielding positions, three new balls, and after that you have to appreciate they batted well. We had to break that partnership (between McCullum and Watling) to get to the lower order batsmen. When you bowl to a set of batsmen for two days, you try everything from catching in slips to catching cover to deep square leg to deep point to bowling on pads to bowling outside off. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work,’ said Dhoni.
India were in a spot of bother at 54 for three but Kohli’s (105 not out) sixth ton took India to safety, with the visitors ending Day 5 at 166/3. There was a records galore Tuesday with the hosts posting their highest ever total in Tests, McCullum (302) becoming the first New Zealander to get past the 300-mark.
The 32-year-old also became the highest individual scorer for the Kiwis, surpassing legendary Martin Crowe’s 299 against Sri Lanka here in 1991 while New Zealand’s colossal total outscored their previous best of 671/4, also in the same Test. Resuming the day at 571 for six, McCullum patiently put on 19 more runs in the morning session to complete his triple century while all-rounder Jimmy Neesham scored a century on debut, remaining unbeaten on 137.
The New Zealand skipper’s knock puts him behind only Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad’s 337 in the highest second innings score list. The Kiwi duo continued their good work from Day 4, extending the seventh-wicket partnership to 179 runs before McCullum edged a Zaheer Khan delivery to India skipper MS Dhoni, bringing to an end a match-saving innings.
The stadium rose to applaud the batsman’s effort as the Indian fielders walked up to congratulate him.The Dunedin-born raised his bat to acknowledge the greetings of the crowd before walking back into the pavilion. Man of the Match McCullum hit 32 boundaries and four sixes in his epic 559-ball innings. Zaheer scalped Tim Southee (11) shortly after to take the 11th fifer of his career. Neesham put on 41 more runs with Neil Wagner (2 not out) before New Zealand declared their innings.
The visitors were immediately put on the backfoot, losing both openers Murali Vijay (7) and Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Cheteshwar Pujara (17) early but Kohli played a brilliant innings to ensure India don’t slip down further.
MS defends bowlers, finds show ‘quite good’
Wellington: India frittered away a golden chance of winning the second Test against New Zealand but skipper MS Dhoni inexplicably continued to defend his listless bowlers and even found the team’s display during the winless tour as ‘quite a good performance’.
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. 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.
Having bundled out the Black Caps for 192 in the first innings and taken a 246-run lead, India looked like winning the second Test, as they reduced New Zealand to 94 for five in their second innings. But Brendon McCullum (302) staged a remarkable fightback and together with BJ Watling shared a world record partnership of 352 runs for the sixth wicket to take the hosts to safety. ‘In the first Test our second innings was brilliant. And then we came here won the toss and bowled really well in the first innings. In the second innings also we got a good start till Brendon and Watling came in. I don’t think it was bad bowling but it is just that they kept the good deliveries out. Appreciate what Brendon and Watling did, soak up the pressure when we were bowling well and score freely once the bowlers were tired,’ he added.
‘We bowled for two and a half days. We tried everything, all fielding positions, three new balls, and after that you have to appreciate they batted well. We had to break that partnership (between McCullum and Watling) to get to the lower order batsmen. When you bowl to a set of batsmen for two days, you try everything from catching in slips to catching cover to deep square leg to deep point to bowling on pads to bowling outside off. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t work,’ said Dhoni.
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