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 Mohali, Oct 17:
Scott Styris joined the run feast with a career-best 119 as New
Zealand kindled hopes of a dream series win on Indian soil, powering
to a mammoth 536 for five in their first innings at close in the
series-deciding second cricket Test here today. After centurions Lou
Vincent and Mark Richardson, it was the turn of Styris to make merry
and score his second Test ton on a flat pitch as New Zealand posted
their best-ever total against India to leave the hosts the task of
defending their impeccable home reputation. Even if the Kiwis are
unable to force a win in this Test, a draw would also be a
creditable result for them in what was billed as a "revenge
series".
At close, Craig
McMillan was batting on 58 while Robbie Hart was on ten. Resuming at
their overnight score of 247 for one, both Richardson and Styris
showed no signs of any urgency in the run collection as they
continued to play in the same vein to frustrate the Indian bowlers
even more. Richardson, who shared a marathon 231-run opening
partnership with Vincent to provide the ideal platform for a mammoth
Kiwi total, was the first player to depart but not before stitching
a 151-run second wicket partnership with Styris to put the Indians
completely on the backfoot.
The hapless Indians
failed to break the partnership in the pre-lunch session but it was
Harbhajan Singh who eventually provided the much needed breakthrough
by evicting Richardson who made full use of his share of luck,
benefiting from two dropped catches. Richardson, who was dropped by
captain Rahul Dravid early in his innings on Thursday, got another
reprieve today with the captain being the culprit yet again. The
left-handed opener was on 111 when he edged Anil Kumble to first
slip but the Indian captain failed to latch on to the catch,
allowing him to carry on with the job of taking the Kiwis to a
position of strength from where they could dictate terms.
Richardson tried to
lift Harbhajan over the fence but mistimed his shot and Kumble held
on to a well-judged catch at the long on boundary, bringing his
548-minute vigil to an end. The opener slammed 19 boundaries and
faced 410 balls during his career-best knock of 145. His previous
best was 143 against Bangladesh in Hamilton during the 2001-02
series. Styris gave ample proof of his batting skills to crack a
career-best 119 and tried to force the pace of the scoring, which
was quite slow in the opening session, along with his captain
Stephen Fleming who struck a breezy 30 off 34 balls.
Styris, unbeaten on
43 at the lunch break, mixed caution with aggression to notch up his
second Test century as the tired Indian bowlers seemed to just go
through their motions. The all-rounder completed his ton in 196
balls by taking three runs off Tendulkar, gliding the ball to the
third man region. His previous best score was 107 achieved against
the West Indies in 2001-02. It is for the seventh time in Test
history that the three top order batsmen have scored a century and
the first time against India, a clear indication that the track has
been a batsman's paradise. Fleming, who joined the action after
Richardson's departure, made his intentions clear by going for his
strokes by using his feet to the spinners in a bid to accelerate the
pace of scoring.
 The left-handed
captain, who failed with the bat in both the innings of the first
Test in Ahmedabad, lifted Harbhajan for a huge six over the bowler's
head and then produced another blistering boundary. But his
belligerence was short-lived as he fell a victim to the part-time
bowling of Tendulkar who managed to get one through his gates to
dislodge the stumps much to the jubilation of a meagre crowd, which
had otherwise very little to cheer about. The hosts tasted success
immediately after the tea break when the well-set Styris, who was
showing signs of breaking loose, perished to the hard-working Kumble
who bowled reasonably well on a track which gave him little
assistance.
Styris went on the
back foot to play a stroke on the leg side but missed the line
completely to be trapped plumb in front of the wicket. His 251-ball
effort contained ten boundaries and two sixes and came in 293
minutes. Astle, who was unusually sedate unlike his partner
McMillan, could not survive for long, falling prey to Harbhajan for
a 72-ball 18. Astle tried to cut the off-spinner but only managed to
edge the ball to Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. (Agencies)
Published: Friday,
October 17, 2003
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