After Tendulkar disappoints a big turn out, incarnated batsman Harbhajan Singh entertains them with yet another sterling knock as India take decisive advantage over New Zealand.
Being positive and reckless can often be divided by a blurry thin line. The line was distinct in the case of Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday. He appeared in a needless hurry to get going.
He missed being run out off the very first ball of the day and was gone after facing nine more balls, trying to hit Daniel Vettori over the top. Was such early aggression warranted is a question for debate but the strategy looked inherently perilous. One wondered if it was a sign of weakness, strength or desperation.
The early setback was a let-down for the 30,000 crowd who thronged the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in anticipation of Tendulkar’s 50th Test century but local hero VVS Laxman and India’s new batting discovery Harbhajan Singh rose to the occasion to help India take, what could be, a decisive advantage in the Test. At 436 for nine, India have placed themselves in a position from where they can force a win.
The story of the day lied in its tail. Harbhajan, who has taken the incarnation of a batsman this series, was at it again on Thursday. Following up with his match-saving scores of 69 and 115 in Ahmedabad, Harbhajan came up with another game-changing innings of 85.
The runs came after a mini-collapse in the middle order in which the hosts lost five wickets for 56 runs. Harbhajan then took charge of the proceedings and guided India to the driver’s seat with an unbeaten and highly entertaining 69-run partnership for the unconquered 10th wicket. The comrade in arm for him at the other end was S Sreesanth.
Harbhajan batted as if nothing really interested him than scoring. Such was the respect from the rival camp that the field was spread out when he batted. Vettori placed nine fielders on the fence and yet Harbhajan managed to hit seven fours and five sixes.
It was a knock of high quality entertainment with an unflappable temperament. Harbhajan rarely put a foot wrong and also gave a few batting tips to Sreesanth. The day may have started on a disastrous note but ended on a high for the home team. The entire stadium stayed glued to the action till the very end.
In the morning, Tendulkar’s dismissal in the fifth over of the day led to a temporary run-freeze in the middle with Dravid struggling to cope with the tight and tenacious bowling by the visitors. He made a labourious 45 before falling lbw to Tim Southee but at the other end, Laxman started unraveling his class.
The man in form batted with the elegance and style that is associated with Hyderabad batsmen stars of the yore. Laxman would caress and glide rather than hit and smash the ball to the fence. He was involved in two substantial partnerships with Dravid and Raina before being adjudged lbw. That was a sort of an anti-climax for an innings which looked headed for a century.
For New Zealand, skipper Vettori extracted a lot of bounce and turn off the wicket to trouble India. Most Indian batsmen, barring Harbhajan, struggled against his accuracy with skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, both struggling for runs, were foxed by the left-arm spinner.
He would have ended the day with better figures than 4 for 123 but then he ran into India’s latest batting sensation.
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