Minor Recovery

Day 2 at Ahmedabad

Much better from New Zealand today. For most part, they cut out the sloppiness which had somehow crept into their game yesterday and forced India into mistakes.

Of course, Harbhajan Singh got away from the kiwis and his 69 was a major psychological point in favour of India, but it was still a fine effort to keep them to 487 with just three frontline bowlers (Bennett predictably injured himself. He needs some serious work on his action). Patel made some good adjustments to his line and got the prize wickets of Tendulkar and Laxman; good job, though he was expensive, and I still don't think he should be in the starting lineup. Vettori today was a much more dangerous and attacking bowler once he finally got some good support at the other end, and the ball with which he got Zaheer Khan was an absolute highlight for me.

The batting was a mixed bag really. McIntosh has problems with the short ball and Zaheer is all too aware of it, while Watling's struggles with left-arm spin have most certainly been carried over from Bangladesh. Those two dismissals were embarrassing, but McCullum has made a good fist of opening the innings so far and batted sensibly in Taylor's company. Those two need to play a similar game tomorrow.

On a pitch this slow, offering some turn every now and then, the difficulties faced by the batsmen today put into perspective the centuries of Sehwag and Dravid. Even if the kiwis didn't bowl too well yesterday, that partnership was down to no little skill (the contrasting and complementary approaches of RD and Viru made for fascinating viewing) and will probably prove to be a matchwinning one.