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India lose their way at McLean Park

India vs New Zealand: Second ODI Napier, New Zealand Report status: End of match

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A stunning one-handed catch by Craig McMillan at mid-wicket ended the Indian challenge in the second one-dayer of the seven-match series against New Zealand at McLean Park in Napier.

The 35-run defeat -- despite a superlative century by Virender Sehwag -- saw India trail 0-2 in the series.

India have now lost six of their last nine matches in the last two months, thus dampening the euphoria that was generated following the success of the NatWest Trophy in England and the good showing in the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo.

With their worst fielding performance of the season and some third-rate running between the wickets, the Indian team cut a sorry figure on what has been a winless tour so far.

Chief executive of the McLean Park, Blair Furlong said the pitch was full of runs. "We want 250 runs and I think we'll get it," he said.

Despite a pretty good grass cover, the wicket looked hard and an ideal one for batsmen to play their strokes. In those ideal settings, skipper Sourav Ganguly won his first toss of the tour and decided to chase.

The park has a history of helping teams chase totals, with 14 times out of 20 teams choosing to field on winning the toss.

Zaheer Khan almost struck with his first ball when Nathan Astle shaped to pull and saw the ball ricochet off his pad and dislodge the bails. Umpire Asoka De Silva signaled no-ball and Astle was reprieved.

Javagal Srinath denied Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming, who enjoys a great record at this ground, the honour of sustaining that average of 70. Looking to play the ball through mid-wicket, the left-hander got a leading edge flying to Mohammad Kaif in the covers.

Playing the final one-dayer of the year, it was the last chance for some players to perform and find their way into the final list of fifteen for the World Cup. Matthew Sinclair was one; VVS Laxman another of those two candidates vying for their World Cup places.

Sinclair's 78 helped New Zealand counter the early loss of Fleming. His 136-run partnership for the second wicket with Astle set the tone for a huge total.

Astle and Sinclair negotiated the opening spells of Srinath and Zaheer and then set about repairing the innings.

Srinath, relishing the conditions, bowled a brilliant spell, testing the batsmen outside the off-stump and getting appreciable bounce. Sinclair was unable to decipher his length and managed to keep his bat away from the deliveries swaying past his off-stump. The Indian bowlers had chalked their game-plan well against Sinclair, not permitting him the sanctuary to drive through covers, tucking him up with the incoming deliveries.

Astle elated at the early reprieve when on zero, chanced his arm and scored freely en route to his half-century. The Indian fielding today was in shambles as was Rahul Dravid's stint behind the wickets. Dravid dropped Sinclair besides letting byes pass him on its way to the fence.

With the World Cup selection a day away, the selectors will do well to include Parthiv Patel as the specialist keeper in the squad to back up Dravid. On current form, Dravid is India's best batsman and has played a major part in India's victories. Losing him or a drop in his form due to fatigue will affect India's chances at the World Cup next year.

Astle was dismissed trying to smash Ganguly out of the ground -- caught in the deep by Zaheer Khan -- for 76. Realising the need to attack, Ganguly brought back Srinath, whose first spell of six overs cost a mere 16 runs and the prize wicket of Fleming.

Srinath, as he had in the first one-dayer, got India the breakthrough, trapping Craig McMillan in front, and then with an athletic piece of fielding dismissed Jacob Oram with a direct throw from mid-off. In between the dismissals, Sinclair was caught at the wicket trying to reverse sweep Harbhajan Singh.

New Zealand, at 204-5, and another seven overs to play were struggling to score some important runs to take the total to 265-270. Four wickets fell in the last five overs as the Kiwis ended up at 252-9.

For India to win the match, Virender Sehwag would have to fire at the top. The Indians, however, had the worst possible start, losing Sourav Ganguly, who inside-edged a delivery from Darryl Tuffey onto his stumps for a blob.

Sehwag, curbing his attacking instincts, played with rare watchfulness. Eschewing the swishes outside off and moving out of the line of short-pitched deliveries, he played straight with the full face of the bat.

VVS Laxman walked in and began stroking his way through to the selectors' 15 to be announced tomorrow afternoon. He flicked and drove with èlan, paling Sehwag at the other end. The only area of concern was the fact that the duo did not concentrate on picking the singles. The first eight overs had as many as 41 dot balls and the score still read 37-1.

The 57-run partnership, off 87 balls, was slow, considering the fact that the asking rate was closing in on the six-run per over mark. Laxman, who began smoothly, suddenly ran into dry pockets of scoring and was dismissed swishing outside off.

Dravid and Sehwag showed some urgency and scored at a brisk rate to pull back the asking rate with singles and twos before a moment of indecision cost Dravid his wicket.

Sehwag played the ball behind square and kept looking at the fielder - Fleming -- instead of responding to Dravid's call. Both were stranded in the middle of the pitch and India lost Dravid at a crucial moment in the match. (104-3)

Two balls later in the same over, Vettori beat Yuvraj Singh with a straight delivery and was stumped for a blob. Yuvraj's moment of impetuosity saw India plummet to 104-4 halfway through the innings.

Sehwag, who was fighting his natural instinct to attack, was stuck in the middle, looking determined to finish the game for after running Dravid out. Mohammad Kaif's arrival to the crease brought a sense of reassurance in the Indian camp that the match was not over yet.

With hare-like speed between the wickets, Kaif eased the pressure on Sehwag, keeping the scoreboard ticking. Sehwag, having got a measure of the wicket, launched into his attack-mode and smashed the Kiwi bowlers out of the attack.

He collared Daniel Vettori for some exclusive treatment. Using his feet with the grace of a dancer, he cracked Vettori out of the ground. After ruining Vettori's bowling figures, he went after Paul Hitchcock -- Shane Bond's replacement - and Jacob Oram.

From carving sixes over point and cracking boundaries off good length deliveries, the momentum had shifted India's way and skipper Stephen Fleming, for the first time in the series, got a feel of the batting depth in the Indian team.

Sehwag cut the ball to the third-man fence and registered his second one-day hundred off 111 balls. After the jubilation of the century, he got back to the job at hand.

If India had to win, it was imperative that he stayed till the winning run was scored. Tuffey came back into the attack and broke the 78-run partnership, picking the wicket of Mohammad Kaif off a featheredge to the keeper. (182-5)

In the next over, Sanjay Bangar edged the ball between the keeper and first slip for four. Off the very next ball, he repeated the same shot and was caught by keeper Brian McCullum.

Despite two overs being docked for their slow over-rate, India -- with Sehwag in full flow -- were in the hunt. Only the wickets were a matter of concern.

Harbhajan Singh walked in and with his patent unorthodox batting style scored a few runs to close in on the target. A flat-batted six off Tuffey was the highlight of his breezy knock. Off the last ball of that over that fetched nine runs, Harbhajan called Sehwag for a non-existent single, but the last-named was run-out by a brilliant pick-up and throw by Tuffey.

Sehwag's dismissal for 108 turned the match New Zealand's way even though India required another 52 runs off 48 balls. Sehwag, batting with newfound maturity, had paved the way for a brilliant Indian win before the bizarre run-out turned the match on its head.

Hitchcock bounced out Harbhajan in the next over as the Kiwis were assured of going up 2-0 in the seven-match series.

In the end, India fell short by 36 runs.