In a way it turned out to be a good thing for India to have been dismissed 314 runs short of the Kiwis in the first innings of the second Test at Napier. That laid the ground for Gautam Gambhir to emerge as the rock on which India can depend, much like the Wall of old. Throughout that 11-hour marathon innings, old hands like Martin Crowe in the commentary box kept seeing Gambhir's vulnerabilities, while expecting first Dravid and then Tendulkar to be the saviour for India. But in the end, it was Gambhir who saw India to near safety, which portends well for this team's future.
But, now that the epic two-day rearguard defence has been savoured and digested, and the final Test is upon us, we should lift the carpet and examine the dirt that has been brushed under it.
However easy the pitch might have become, New Zealand could never have got to 600 plus after being 23 for 3 without shoddy captaincy by Virender Sehwag. The placement of the slips, with random gaps that the edges invariably found, was just one example of how he allowed the Kiwis to get away. His own irresponsible shots across the line to spinners in both innings, in the face of the daunting Kiwi total, indicated more than an inability to play according to the requirements of the situation (as Dravid seemed to suggest at a press conference) - to me it showed captaincy doesn't sit easy on his shoulders. He tends to smile a lot, but that's more like bravado - he's no captain cool. Even during the IPL, poor choices made by Sehwag cost Delhi Daredevils a couple of games. There's no doubt he's a very astute cricketer, but if he doesn't gain his poise as captain soon, India would do well to give that responsibility to somebody who can handle it better. That of course will not solve the immediate problem, which is to captain the side in the crucial Test in cold and windy Wellington which India must at least draw in order to win a series in New Zealand after four decades. If Dhoni's back hasn't healed, India will be taking the field with a huge handicap on Friday - in captaincy, in the catching behind the wickets, and in late order batting resilience.
The second problem is the lack of application in the batting. It wasn't just Napier. Even against England at Chennai recently India dug itself into a hole with loose shot-making before a huge partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh in the second innings gave them a victory with a 400-plus second innings chase. So there's a pattern emerging here. When the chips are down, our batsmen will buckle down and play a 'smart' game instead of a stupid 'natural' game. Keeping the historic aspect of this Test, however, fans will be hoping India's batsmen put as much of a price on their wickets in the first innings as they do in the second.