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Kiwis all out 255

New Zealand 255 all out, Cairns 53, Kumble 4/67, Srinath 3/62; India 212/1 in 75 overs, Ramesh batting 81, Dravid batting 29

Watching the television cameras pan across the Green Park pitch on the morning of day two gives you a definite feeling of deja vu -- in your mind, you recall an image seen a thousand times on news and science programmes, of Neil Armstrong taking that 'small step for Man'.

The track here, even as early as day two, has the look of a less frequented corner of the moon -- and early on in the proceedings, the umpires had to warn both not out batsmen, Cairns and Nash, about running on the pitch or walking up and down to do their 'gardening', and, in the process, roughing it up even further with their spiked boots.

The umpires were quite right, too, in handing out that little warning -- pitches like this, you treat like the most fragile of Sevres crystal, and pray to all the gods of your acquaintance for it to last the distance.

When the final history of this Test is told, the 8th wicket partnership between Cairns and Nash, which realised 83 and was easily the highest of the innings, could well be underlined as a defining moment. Following on from the 42 added for the seventh wicket, this pair took the initiative away from the Indian spinners and prevented them from running through the batting side.

Cairns, who reached a very well deserved 50 with his third six off Joshi (this pair are rapidly developing a love-hate relationship, Cairns loves taking on Joshi and the latter probably hates him for the mess the assault is making of his otherwise very good bowling figures) deserves the full credit for this recovery. He played with a lot of application -- patience personified as he defended with uncharacteristic dourness, forcing the Indian spinners to keep trying something different and pouncing on the least error in line and length to put the ball away.

Nash at the batting crease provides moments of unintentional comedy. He stands about a foot outside to Srinath -- a policy that, in Mohali, found him dumped on his butt by a vicious bouncer from the quick bowler. Having thus ruled out the LBW, he then walks all over his crease in a manner bowlers must find very confusing -- last evening, there was this rather funny scene when Kumble fired one down the leg side, Nash helped it to the fine leg boundary, skipper Tendulkar was seen asking Kumble what he thought he was doing and the latter, shaking his head in frustration, was seen pointing out that when Nash played that ball, his middle and leg stump were clearly visible behind his back. However, for all those deficiencies in technique, he held his ground, kept his end going and gave Cairns the support he needed in course of that partnership.

The Indians opened with the old ball, Srinath and Joshi bowling in tandem. Srinath, however, found little joy to be had in a ball 90+ overs old and too soft to get much life out of, and was replaced by Kumble. The leg spinner's form may be a bit off, but his luck is riding high -- just when it looked as though Cairns and Nash might bat India completely out of the game, a rank bad ball got the wicket. Kumble pitched short, Cairns swivelled to slam him over midwicket, overhit the ball a touch in his eagerness to clear the fence, and ended up top-edging for Tendulkar, at slip, to run back and hold a well-judged catch.

Good captaincy at this point saw Tendulkar immediately bring on Harbajan for the left-handed Vettori, and the ploy worked in the third ball of the offie's first over when, with slip, gully, silly point and square leg backing him, Harbajan floated one on leg, turned it in and had Vettori pushing straight to short square.

And in the very next over, Kumble finished the innings off with a regulation flipper on middle and leg, which Wiseman -- who appears to have a healthy fear of this track, judging by the way he was holding his bat seemingly as a stick to hit a cobra with -- duly pushed to short square to finish the Kiwi innings.

For India, Kumble was the most successful, with four wickets. The team management must be hoping that the fact of getting those wickets will help the leg spinner regain his rhythm and confidence, for they will look to him to do a lot of damage in the Kiwi second innings. Harbajan and Joshi bowled well in support, except of course when the latter was confronted by Cairns, at which point he seemed to lose his sense of balance.

Indian openersRamesh and Gandhi, in the 11 overs they faced before lunch, began with admirable circumspection to deliveries outside off stump. This refusal to make premature Christmas gifts of their wickets appeared to irritate Cairns in particular -- the tall Kiwi opening bowler in his first few overs had quite a few things to say, to Ramesh in particular, and none of it seemed particularly polite.

The left-handed opener responded in his laid-back fashion, guiding one rather lazily to the point boundary and, when Cairns responded by reinforcing the close cordon with a second gully to complement the two slips, leaning into a square drive to split the slip-gully cordon for four more.

At the other end, Gandhi seemed content to just keep his end up, which was a fair ploy for this stage of the game. Interestingly, Fleming brought on Vettori as early as the 8th over, without however inducing any noticeable trepidation on the part of the Indian batsmen -- two cover driven fours by Ramesh, in succession, was a good demonstration of how to play spin on a shopsoiled pitch such as this one.

Wiseman took over from Cairns for the last over before lunch, and seemed to get some nice drift and turn straightaway. Gandhi, with three round the bat, however refused to stay inside his crease. He did have one let off when he pushed at Wiseman and short square leg, Spearman, failed to get his fingers wrapped around the sharp chance. This could prove costly -- Gandhi, batting four at the time, is showing signs that he relishes spin, and that coupled with Ramesh's ability to score freely at all times sets up what should be an interesting second session.

Lunch score 28/0 India, Ramesh batting 22, Gandhi batting 4

Stephen Fleming made a tactical mistake at the start of the session, and could end up paying for it through the remaining part of this Test. Setting a defensive field immediately on resumption, Fleming had his bowlers bowling a defensive line, obviously playing a waiting game and hoping that once the ball got older, his seamers would get reverse swing and his spinners would find more purchase.

What this did was take the pressure right off the Indian openers, who for their part responded with a flurry of strokes. Gandhi in particular was impressive -- rather pacific, like his more illustrious namesake, when playing pace, the Bengal opener appears to relish spin, the kind Vettori specialises in, in particular.

Driving superbly through the covers and in the V, leaning well forward when the ball landed three quarters to flick through midwicket, Gandhi took over the onus of quick scoring with a flurry of fours after lunch, the standouts being a lovely straight drive off Vettori, and when Cairns was brought back after the first hour, picking a slower ball and blasting it through the off cordon off the front foot to bring up his second successive half-century, this one off 106 balls with his 9th four. Rejuvenated by the drinks break immediately thereafter, Gandhi then celebrated with a little dance down the track to smash Wiseman over long on for a huge six -- to bring up the second successive century partnership for the first wicket for the Indians.

Ramesh promptly throttled back, concentrating on working the singles around and letting his partner do the bulk of the scoring. These two are now showing signs of developing a good understanding -- in running between the wickets, and sharing the workload of scoring -- and that should give the selectors some cause for self-congratulation.

The first hour after lunch produced 52 runs in 16 overs, and India had got well and truly away from the Kiwis. The free scoring pattern, which Gandhi in particular continued after the drinks break, stepping up the tempo in a blistering assault on the spinners, was ideal for this track -- concentrate on defending, as the Kiwis with the exception of Cairns did, and sooner or later one ball will come along with your name on it and do just enough to take the wicket. By playing freely through the line, the two openers -- especially Gandhi against the spinners -- ensured that seamers and spinners alike failed to get into any kind of rhythm, and kept them from exploiting the kinks in the pitch.

Wiseman was the only bowler to impress, getting some turn and bounce out of the track while Vettori, on whom the Kiwis have been banking heavily to provide the riposte to India's spinners, took a mauling going for 38 in his first ten. Cairns, who was in particularly good voice during his pre-lunch spell, was silenced by flowing boundaries taken off him by both Ramesh and Gandhi (the latter ripping two successive cover drives off the opening bowler and reducing the bowler to kicking the pitch in frustration).

To make matters worse, Ramesh during one of his periodic lapses in concentration drove lazily at Vettori outside his off stump, with the score on 121/0 and Ramesh batting 42, and Fleming, a safe slip catcher at the best of times, put down a sharp chance. Which meant that by tea-time, both openers had a reprieve apiece, and this coupled with the general lack of penetration in the attack, is costing the fielding side dear.

Most worrying for the Kiwis would be the rate of run-scoring -- the Indians kept it at above 3 an over during the session and that, coupled with the continued inability of the bowlers to take wickets, means the game is slipping out of New Zealand's grasp as early as the second afternoon.

The post-lunch session produced 103 runs off just 29 overs. With 35 more overs to go for close of play, the signs for the Kiwis look increasingly ominous, with the first wicket partnership providing a great platform for the strong middle order to capitalise on.

Meanwhile, for trivia buffs, this. The 130-run unbeaten first wicket partnership here, following on the 136 that Ramesh and Gandhi put on in the second innings at Mohali, is the first instance in Indian Test history when the openers have put on two successive 100+ partnerships for the first wicket.

The nearest any Indian pair have come to this was, coincidentally, at the same venue when, in the 1958-'59 series, Pankaj Roy and Nari Contractor put on 93 in the first innings, and 99 in the second, against the West Indies.

And for that, I am indebted as always to Mohandas Menon.

India at tea, 131/0 in 40 overs, Ramesh batting 47 (113 balls, 7 fours), Gandhi 77 (132 balls, 13 fours, one six)

This was when New Zealand officially abdicated all hope of pushing for a win here. They began the session with Wiseman, but once Gandhi blasted a couple of boundaries off the off spinner by way of celebrating yet another Test half-century by his partner (Ramesh so far has 5 fifties and one century in 11 Test innings including this one), Fleming slipped fully back onto the defensive.

It was a ploy similar to the one used in Mohali. Nash and Astle bowling well within themselves, as slowly as they possibly could, with six men on the off to cut off the runs. And when Nash tired, Vettori came back on, went over the wicket and took to pitching a couple of feet outside leg stump with the leg side packed and a short fine leg to block the sweep.

If the idea was to test the patience of the openers, both Gandhi and Ramesh came through it very well, riding the quiet spell out, scoring just 28 runs in 15 overs in the first hour after drinks, but not playing any silly shots to try and break the shackles. At one point, after Nash and Astle had sent down 20 deliveries that went unscored off, Ajay Jadeja was seen bringing out a pair of gloves no one had asked for -- and from his gesticulation, it was obvious that the instructions from the dressing room were to bat calmly and not throw it away.

Devang Gandhi will count himself very unlucky to miss a possible first Test century by just 12 runs, after playing an innings that began slow, then took off as the opener grew in confidence to play some fluid shots all round the wicket. With his score on 88 off 186 deliveries and the partnership worth 162, Gandhi misread a back-of-the-hand slower ball from AStle, drove at it too early and found Stephen Fleming at backward point holding a catch as the ball swirled past him in flight.

Earlier, with the score on 158/0 and Gandhi's own score on 85, he had again driven Astle, this time on the up in front of the wicket, for McMillan at a shortish mid off to grass a simple catch -- the Kiwis, known for their sure catching, simply haven't been on song on this tour, thus far.

The dismissal came in the third ball of the 57th over. And that brings up another bit of trivia. In Mohali, Rahul Dravid was dismissed in over number 165.1. India batted on for another 17.5 overs there, and scored 95 more runs as Tendulkar and Ganguly launched a blitz on the bowlers. Which means that it has taken the Kiwi bowlers a total of 74.2 overs between that innings and this (Gandhi fell in over number 56.3) to get a wicket -- and in that time, the Indian batsmen have scored a total of 257 runs.

Ramesh has been playing with a watchfulness that seems to indicate that he has had his fill of the flak that has come his way for throwing it away after getting well set. And Dravid, the one batsmen the Kiwis probably see in their dreams as well, began with two fours, a cover drive off Vettori and a fine leg glance off Astle, and it was apparent that the fall of the first wicket was merely an aberration on a day when batsmen held complete sway. 81 runs came off 35 overs in the final session, and at close, the Indians find themselves just 44 runs behind the Kiwi first innings total, and perfectly placed going into day three with 9 wickets standing.

One point merits mentioning -- though the bat has dominated on day two, the disintegration of this pitch is proceeding quite on schedule. Every now and again, a ball tossed up in flight has been kicking up dust on landing, indicating the dryness of the soil, and around the cracks, it has begun to crumble, with both Ramesh and Dravid using their bat as a gardening implement almost as often as they used it to play the ball. And this means that at this point, New Zealand, facing the prospect of playing a second innings under a massive deficit, are really under the hammer here. The only option for the Kiwis is to take out the remaining Indian batsmen in a hurry on day three -- and to do that, they need to break out of the defensive rut their bowling is in.

Tailpiece: Thanks to all those who mailed me about yesterday's 'anti-marathi' tailpiece -- your concern and support is touching but believe me, four years of doing cricket reports has kind of inured me to such rubbish anyway, nowadays such mails only make me laugh.

Today, by way of change, another issue. After spending the day watching the first day's play at Kanpur as part of my work, I went home and, for pleasure, watched the Pakistan-Sri Lanka showdown in the Sharjah triangular final.

Responding to Pakistan's target of 211/9 in 50 overs, the Lankans appeared to be cruising at 55/1 in the 11th over, when Aravinda D'Silva drove a touch airily at a ball outside off.

What followed was sheer tragedy. The ball flew to Inzamam at slip. The fielder grabbed at it as he tumbled down. The ball slipped out of his grasp, hit the ground, got trapped between Inzy's huge thighs, the fielder grabbed at it and everyone went up for the catch.

Umpire calls for the third umpire to adjudicate -- fair enough, that, considering there is no way the straight umpire could be absolutely clear whether the catch had been fairly taken.

We are then treated to a series of slow motion replays, for the next four minutes and a bit. Many views, yet not one conclusive. After watching every one of those replays closely, the best we can say with certainity is that the ball did bounce before being grabbed.

The third umpire presses the red button. The decision is so shocking that the TV umpires fumble for words, before one of them calls it a travesty of justice. Meanwhile, a section of the spectators, having seen the replays on the giant screen, gesticulate for Aravinda to go back to the centre and resume batting.

The third umpire issues a clarification, relayed to us by the commentators. It seems that in the view of that official, when the ball fell out of Inzy's hands, it bounced not off the ground, but off the material of the fielder's trousers.

Once that explanation was conveyed to them, the television crew showed six more replays of the 'dismissal'. Nowhere was it clear whether the ball bounced off the ground, or whether the material of his trouser-leg came between ball and ground.

As per the canons of cricket (at least, that is how it is everywhere -- if they've got a different rule book for Sharjah, I don't know about it, pardon the ignorance), there is one rule umpires all over the world follow -- if there is even a shadow of a doubt, the batsman benefits. Here, the doubt was more substantial than a 'shadow'. And the batsman was shown the door.

The mistake was made not by umpires in the middle, acting in the heat of the moment. (Actually, immediately thereafter, David Shepherd of all people nailed Lanka to the mast by giving Kaluwitharana out LBW, when the ball had clearly touched bat before hitting pad, thus reducing Lanka from 55/1 to 55/3). Rather, it was made by a third umpire after repeated viewings of the action replays available. Thus, you can't come up with the 'human error under pressure' excuse here -- 'pressure' doesn't apply when you take more than four minutes, and over a dozen repititions of the action replay, to make up your mind.

The third umpire was one Mr Steve Dunne. A veteran of over 80 ODIs. He hails from New Zealand.

I wonder if Mr Martin Crowe, who was so upset the other day about the standards of umpiring in the sub-continent, was watching?

And while on the subject, my pick from the emails of the day:

I read a lot about Martin Crowe's column and various responses. While I agree that Crowe's comments were not in good taste, I must agree that there is some truth about his mention about Javed Miandad not getting LBW in Pak. How many of us know that JM was not LBW in Pak for 10 years? First time he was given out LBW was sometime in mid 80s against SL. This considering his half cock stance was a joke. He finished with 9 LBWs home and 25 abroad. Mind you, Pak had neutral umpires after 1986 series more often than not which is when he seems to have got most LBWs at home. However Crowe's comment was not in good taste. Most advanced countried don't appreciate the diff between India and Pak in various other respects as there is hardly any difference in the economic front, like Indians will not understand the diff between Gambia and Rwanda. Of course, when he goes on record he should better know what he talks. Anyway Crowe to me was a pleasure to watch, so I will excuse him this time :-). Sd/- Narayanan

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