India were out of the hole again and the revival was sparked by familiar face in VVS Laxman and new batting allrounder Harbhajan Singh who got a MoM award for batting. Surprisingly he made a 100 and a 50 in a same game to become 8th batsman in the history to accompalish this feat.
The Kiwis were no pushovers and to me following were the high points of this test match:
- Superb fast bowling spell by Chris Martin on 4th evening to give a strong chance out of nowhere to Kiwis to win the test match.
- Match turning partnership by Ryder and Williamson on day 3 to bring Kiwis in touch distance within India's first innings score.
- Spectacular collapse of India in 2nd innings to be at 5/15 with just 43 runs lead.
- The man called VVS Laxman with his awesome 2nd innings record. Enough said.
The low points:
- The Motera pitch : lifeless, dull and flat. Perhaps that prevented MS to declare when India were 200 up in the fourth innings lead and safely out of danger.
- India's impotent bowling attack. Barring Zaheer Khan and to an extent Ojha, the others were insipid.
- Continuing bowling failure of Harbhajan Singh would soon come to a point where coach and captain would need to decide if he continues to be # 1 spinner in Tests.
- Gautam Gambhir's insipid 2010 run continues.
- Sehwag's 2nd innings record continues to be patchy.
- Sreesanth should now be relegated to dancing on reality shows. He is just no use to India's lineup. Ishant Sharma seems to be better bowler than this guy.
India would be disappointed that they could not beat Kiwis and continue their winning streak. On the other hand, the Kiwis would be more than happy to get the draw with strong performances from Ryder, WIlliamson, Baz and Martin. I just hope no more tests are scheduled in Ahmedabad in near future if it continues to roll out docile, Srilankan type pitches.
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