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India lose despite Dravid ton

Toss a coin under Mohammad Azharuddin's nose and he can't seem to call wrong!

The Indian skipper did it again, at the Owen Delaney Park at Taupo in the first ODI in a five-game series against New Zealand (this, incidentally, being the first ODI to be played at the venue). And, on a dry, hard pitch that looked like it could slow down as the game progressed, decided to bat first.

Both sides brought in their one day specialists -- the big surprise being that Anil Kumble didn't make the Indian starting lineup, a shoulder injury sidelining him and allowing Hrishikesh Kanitkar to get a look in.

The start couldn't have been more disastrous for the batting side -- after a maiden in the second over from Doull, Cairns produced a snorter in the third. The ball was outside off, drawing Sachin into the horizontal bat stroke -- only to see it bounce higher than the norm for that length, and seam in sharply, to take the involuntary edge to second slip as the surprised batsman sought to parry the ball down.

But then came a 113-run partnership for the second wicket, between Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, that took the initiative out of the Kiwi hands. Dravid in fact began like he was carrying on from the third Test, while Ganguly, after taking an over or two to adjust to the slightly uneven pace of the track, powered smoothly into top gear.

The most notable feature of the partnership was that both batsmen took singles constantly, rotating strike and, with the left-right combo working in their favour, messing up the line and length of the Kiwi bowlers.

Thus, well though they bowled, the need to constantly alter their line meant that the likes of Cairns and Doull kept giving away the odd gimme ball, which was clinically put away. India's rate of progression showed how well the second wicket pair weathered the early loss of Tendulkar: 24/1 in 5, 46/1 in 10, 69/1 in 15; 88/1 in 20, 119/2 in 25.

69 at the end of the first 15 might not look inspirational, but it needs remembering that the match is being played on a wicket with something in it for bowlers -- not on one of the subcontinental sleeping beauties.

Ganguly in fact was looking good for the big one when his own exuberance brought about his downfall. In Daniel Vettori's first over, the southpaw from Bengal had waltzed down to lift him over long on with effortless ease. Shortly thereafter, Vettori went around the wicket, changing the angle, but Ganguly kept going for that shot -- and managed only to scoop it between two fielders square on the on side. The very next ball, off the batsman went for it again -- Vettori only had to hold it back a shade, and Ganguly lofted it down deep midwicket's throat in predictable fashion.

It was a rather unnecessary end to a good one day knock -- Ganguly had in this knock added, to his trademark driving, a not often seen willingness to play with soft hands and go for the singles. The only blemish lay at the very end when, having got the bowling by the collar, over-ambition ended his innings with the big one well in sight.

Azharuddin filled the breach, but none too convincingly. The ball wasn't coming on to him enough for his trademark flicks, and the tight line and tighter fielding meant there were few freebies on offer. The runs dried up, with Harris, the pick of the Kiwi bowlers, and Larsen bowling an immaculate line. Risks needed to be taken, and Azhar took his when he attempted to run Larsen down to third man. The ball was pitched outside off coming in, Azhar played inside the line, missed and was bowled.

Ajay Jadeja had a forgettable Test series. That form -- or lack of it -- continued into the one day arena as he, like Azhar before him, found conditions unsuited to the brand of strokeplay that brings success in the sub-continent. The batsman ended up driving too early at one held back in the air by Harris, to present the bowler with a simple return catch.

Robin Singh started slow, struggling to read the pace of the wicket. But to his credit, he hung in there and, once he got a feel for the conditions, brought his own innovative brand of strokeplay into operation to help a flagging run rate. And Kanitkar, who lately had a brilliant run with the bat as India A skipper, turned it on at the very end, to help take India to a score that, at one stage, looked improbable.

At the other end, Rahul Dravid notched up his third successive century in internationals, his second ODI hundred coming on the heels of a century in both innings in the recently completed third Test. The confidence of having two tons under his belt was evident as he played his strokes from the first ball he faced. But more than the runs scored -- 123 not out off 124 balls -- what will interest the national selectors are two facets of his batting on the day.

The first pertains to singles -- Dravid had 59 of them in his three figure knock. And the other pertains to the quality of the strokeplay -- time and again Dravid, a batsman known for playing in the V and keeping it along the ground, showed a willingness to go over the infield, hitting on the up with precision and timing. It was these two factors that he had been asked to work on, by the national selectors -- taking singles to rotate the strike, and innovating to maintain a healthy strike rate. On the evidence, it would seem that the number three batsman is in fact working on his perceived defects -- his performance in the matches to come will, for that very reason, be watched very keenly.

The run progression is indicative both of the slump in the middle overs, and the acceleration at the end: From 119/2 in 25, to 133/2 in 30, 151/3 in 35, 174/4 in 40, 213/4 in 45 and 257/5 at the end of the allotted overs.

For the Kiwis, the outstanding performer with the ball was easily Chris Harris, who produced, with his assorted all sorts style of bowling and his ability to keep the line wicket to wicket, figures of 10-1-35-1 that really halted the Indians in their tracks in the middle overs.

India started as disastrously with the ball as they did with the bat, Prasad in particular straying disastrously on either side of the wicket to gift too many runs to the rival batsmen. Interestingly, it appeared that Prasad was irked by some needle, first by Roger Twose and then by Craig McMillan -- a surprising lapse from a bowler who has been there, done that, before.

A loose shot prompted the first wicket, Srinath angling one across Twose on a three quarter length, which the batsman drove at with feet nowhere in line, for Mongia to hold the resulting edge.

That brought McMillan to the wicket -- and like Dravid for the Indians, the free scoring middle order bat appeared to be feeling his oats after a very good run in the Test series earlier, stroking nicely from the get go. Robin Singh, in fact, came in for severe tap from McMillan, a stream of boundaries producing 32 runs off his first three overs.

At the other end, Horne's innings was a mixture of sublime drives and ridiculous heaves -- but the bottom line was that the two put on a 100 run partnership that batted India right out of the game. The progression tells its own tale: 32/1 in 5, 60/1 in 10, 105/1 in 15 (this spurt coinciding with Singh's entry into the attack) and 122/1 in 20.

Sheer desperation in the face of a ruthless assault saw Azhar toss the ball to Tendulkar, who duly obliged by straightening one up to trap Horne in front.

One major difference between these two sides in the recent Test series was the Kiwis' ability to stitch together partnerships. Here, they were at it again, Cairns joining McMillan to add another 40 runs for the third wicket. Cairns promotion, incidentally, as indeed McMillan's before him, owed to the fact that skipper Stephen Fleming was off the field, for the most part of the Indian innings, with a groin injury. This loss of a top order batsman should have been a bonus for India -- one, however, that the bowlers proved unable to make use of.

Srinath, brought back in the search of a breakthrough, managed to get rid of the free-flowing McMillan when a well disguised slower ball had the batsman driving on the up, playing too early and managing only to waft the ball into the hands of mid on.

McMillan had, by then, set the stadium alight with a barnstorming knock of 73 off 76 balls -- and symbolically, the stadium lights went out immediately after his dismissal. The score at lights out was 168/3 in 30.4 overs -- when the lights came on again, sufficient time had been lost to force a reduction of the target to 200 off 39 overs.

On resumption, India began strongly with Singh, brought back for an over, inducing Cairns to loft a ball of full length straight to long off. With Fleming hors d'combat, the Indians might have seen a glimmer of light -- but Harris and Parore shut the door on it with a measured 26-run partnership that brought the side within two runs of victory before the former was run out in a needless mixup. Nash came in to complete the formalities, and the Kiwis, with one full over to spare.

For the Indians, Srinath, Nikhil Chopra and Tendulkar bowled with a measure of control -- but with Prasad going at 5, Kanitkar at six and Singh at 9 an over, it was never going to be enough. The batsmen had done their bit, producing what under the conditions was a defensible total (more so when you remember Fleming's injury), but the bowling effort was missing on too many cylinders, while the fielding remained as mercurial, irresponsible, as always.

Ironically, the Indians, who had explained the Test series defeat by saying that the team was in ODI mode from having played too much of the shorter game, now find themselves 1-0 down in the five match series.

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