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 Ahmedabad,
Oct 10: India maintained their stranglehold despite a creditable
century by Nathan Astle which helped New Zealand claw back and
needing 18 runs to avoid the follow-on in the first cricket Test
here today. Tottering at 17 for three at one stage, New Zealand
fought back into the match on the third day today mainly on account
of Astle's 103-run knock and his 91-run stand with half-centurion
Craig McMillan (54). But India, enjoying the cushion of 500 runs in
the first innings, neutralised the Kiwi advantage by taking three
wickets in the final session of play to again have the visitors on
the backfoot at 282 for eight when stumps were drawn for the day.
Defying the
pace-spin attack of the Indians at close were a pair of spinners in
Daniel Vettori, batting on 28, and Paul Wiseman, not out on eight.
It were the spinners -- Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble -- who made
it difficult for the rival batsmen to score easy runs. The duo were
rewarded for their efforts, with Harbhajan getting rid of Scott
Styris and Astle and Kumble dismissing Jacob Oram. Debutant L Balaji
snared his first Test wicket when he had Robbie Hart trapped plumb
in front as New Zealand were reduced to 265 for eight. But that was
about all as the Indian bowlers failed to finish off the tail to
leave the match interestingly poised.
 Vettori
was surely turning out to be a thorn for the Indians as the cool and
poised tailender defied whatever was dished out to him by the Indian
skipper Sourav Ganguly. The left-arm spinner had hit the Indian
bowlers -- Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan, Kumble, Sehwag and Balaji -- for
a four each in his unfinished 71-ball knock. The Indians will look
to get rid of the Kiwi tail early tomorrow and try and enforce a
follow-on to remain firmly in the driver's seat in this first of the
two-Test series. There was a stage in the match today though when
New Zealand dominated for a brief period with Astle and McMillan
threatening to pull apart the bowling attack with some attractive
stroke-making.
But both the
batsmen were guilty of getting carried away and throwing away their
wickets recklessly. McMillan hit as many as eight fours and had
settled into a fine rhythm during the 92 balls that he faced
alongside his more illustrious partner Astle before he was deceived
by part-timer Virender Sehwag's delivery and ended up giving a fine
catch to Akash Chopra at forward short leg. Astle scored his very
first century against India and his ninth overall in style with a
four off Harbhajan Singh in 195 balls and appeared to take his side
to safety. But once Harbhajan and Kumble were bowling in tandem
after tea, runs became hard to come by and Astle's patience gave
away. He stepped out to loft a Harbhajan Singh delivery, only to see
local boy Parthiv Patel effect a fine stumping.
 Ganguly,
it seemed, wanted to use his best bets Harbhajan and Kumble
sparingly once it became clear that the fast bowlers could not do
much on the Sardar Patel wicket. He allowed them to bowl in tandem
only towards the end of a session but made an exception in the final
session of the day and was immediately rewarded with a very good
result in the form of the wicket of danger man Astle. Kumble and
Balaji, who had toiled hard without result till the final session
today, notched a wicket each. Balaji dismissed Robbie Hart for 15
when he had the wicketkeeper -batsman trapped plumb in front while
Kumble sent back Jcob Oram who looked distinctly ill at ease during
his laboured 50-ball stay at the wicket. He managed just five runs
before Dravid took a good catch at first slip to have the Kiwis 227
for seven.
Both the bowlers
had a special reason to be delighted -- for Balaji it was the first
ever Test scalp while for the veteran leggie it was the 350th of his
long and illustrious career. The sole redeeming feature of the day's
play for the Kiwis was the knock of star batsman Astle. It was a
comeback of sorts for Astle who missed New Zealand's last Test
series against Sri Lanka due to a knee injury. The task was never
easy for Astle who came in after the fall of three quick wickets
yesterday following India's first innings declaration on 500 for
five. Scorecard
(Agencies)
Published: Wednesday, October
10, 2003
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