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 Repeating the same mistakes which spelt their doom in the first innings, India’s formidable batting line-up crumbled for the second time in three days as the visitors crashed to a humiliating 10-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the first Test here today. The Indians gave an extremely poor account of themselves as they managed to bat just 96.5 overs in two innings to suffer one of their worst defeats in recent times allowing the hosts to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. After pace spearhead Zaheer Khan captured his first five-wicket haul to restrict New Zealand’s first innings lead to 86 runs, the batsmen put in an appalling display to be bundled out for a paltry 121 in just 38.1 overs on a Basin Reserve pitch which had eased out considerably. Sachin Tendulkar was the top scorer for the beleaguered Indians with 51, but none of the other batsmen showed the temperament to stay at the crease as speedsters Shane Bond (4 for 33), Darryl Tuffey (3/35) and Jacob Oram (3/28) again shred the batting to pieces.
Needing just 36 runs to record their fourth consecutive win against India at this port city, New Zealand openers Mark Richardson (14) and Lou Vincent (21) rattled up the required runs in 9.3 overs much to the delight of a sizeable home crowd. New Zealand resumed at their overnight score of 201 for seven and didn’t go beyond 247 but the 86-run lead was enough to knock the wind out of India’s sails. Overnight not out batsman Richardson’s effort to become only the second New Zealand player to bat through the innings failed when Zaheer trapped him in front with the very first delivery with the new ball when the batsman was on 89. Earlier, Richardson was dropped in the slips by Dravid when the batsman was yet to add to his overnight score of 83. The left-handed opener batted for 407 minutes and hit 10 fours from 244 balls. Zaheer then picked up his fifth wicket when he took the edge of Daniel Vettori’s bat for a catch to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Shane Bond was the last batsman to be out for two bowled by Ajit Agarkar, the one and only victim of the bowler in the innings.
 Sourav Ganguly’s men hardly appeared a bunch who has had such a successful run through the calendar year in which it notched up wins in every Test series. Nor did it appear a team, which has an ambition of scoring India's first series win outside the subcontinent in 16 years. India lived the nightmare of its first innings’ 161 again, and if anything their second innings effort of 121 from 38.1 overs in less than three hours of batting, was worse. V V S Laxman bagged a pair in the match, captain Sourav Ganguly managed just 19 in two innings and the openers, Sanjay Bangar (12) and Virender Sehwag (12) failed once again to leave India staring at defeat. Openers Bangar and Sehwag had moved swiftly to 23 from 7 overs when Sehwag played back to an incoming swinging delivery from Bond and was trapped plumb in front. Bangar was unlucky to be given out though when he had played full-stretch forward to Oram and the dipping inswinger hit him outside the line of stumps.
Bond broke the back of India’s batting in his seventh over when he claimed the vice-captain and captain - Rahul Dravid (7) and Sourav Ganguly (2) - in four balls to sent a chill down the Indian spine. Dravid drove at a ball which wasn't pitched up and moved a shade to rattle his stumps while Ganguly poked his bat at a moving delivery to underline once again his weakness outside the off-stump. India, 35 for 4 at lunch, quickly slipped to 36 for five when Laxman edged Oram to slips to bag a pair to go with the dropped catch of Richardson in the first innings.
 India could have been six down for 42 had umpire Asoka de Silva not thrust out his left-arm to call a no-ball as a Shane Bond delivery made a mess of Tendulkar’s attempted drive and scattered his stumps when the maestro was just on three. Tendulkar and wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel then delayed the inevitable for 12 overs before Patel made a tentative jab at a Tuffey delivery and was caught at first slip. Tuffey took two more wickets as he removed Ajit Agarkar (9) and Harbhajan Singh (1) from the middle, enjoying a spell of 3 for 18 from six overs.
Agarkar was out to a wretched shot, offering a catch to deep point while Harbhajan became one more victim in the slip cordon, highlighting India's extreme handicap negotiating deliveries aimed at at the corridor of uncertainty. Helplessly watching the procession of his teammates from the other end Tendulkar opened up taking on Bond who was brought back to finish off the good work he began. But Tendulkar took him head on and hit 14 runs from the over with three classy fours as he raced to 51 from 37. In the process he also dented Bond's impressive figures to 33 runs from 13.1 overs. Zaheer was stunned in the first ball of the next over when he saw Scott Styris pull off a spectacular diving catch at point. Last man Ashish Nehra survived the next five balls before Tendulkar dragged one back on to his stumps off Bond to pull down the curtains on India's miserable second innings. Tendulkar batted for two hours and faced 74 balls, slamming seven fours but it brought little cheer to a sizeable number of Indian fans.
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