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 The Kiwis might
have lost the tie at Pune against Australia today but they have sent
enough messages to the Indian camp that New Zealand is back in the
reckoning for a place in the finals. Overcoming a disastrous start,
losing five wickets while batting first when the ball moved both in
the air and off the wicket, skipper Fleming, and later Oram and
McCullum retrieved lost ground to bring the Kiwis back into the
game.
Chasing just over
five runs an over, Gilchrist and Hayden found the going tough
against the swing of the Kiwi bowlers, and lost four wickets quickly
including that of Ponting and Martyn. However, Symonds, Clarke and
Bevan, showed why the Australian team is on the top of the world.
They played cracking shots and kept the score-board moving despite
the fall of wickets and thus Australia were always at least one rung
higher on the ladder.
 New Zealand fought
hard but their fielding, normally brilliant, let them down at vital
stages. Symonds was dropped and again in the last over, two catches
were put down, leaving Australia a last-gasp winner by just two
wickets and one ball to spare.
However, both sides
showed lack of discipline while bowling. The bowlers were clearly
carried away by the sideways movement that they were able to
generate. In conditions like these, Brad Williams got the kind of
support he would have never dreamt of in India. He must have been
told stories and stories of dead pitches and the lack of atmospheric
help. Pune was a ground which Williams and Bracken will rate highly!
The sideways movement was such that the umpires too were busy
signalling sideways -- for the large number of byes!
 New Zealand and
Australia have a visible advantage over India in that they possess a
number of players who come close to being real all-rounders (Cairns,
Harris, Styris, Vettori for New Zealand and Symonds, Harvey, Clarke,
Bevan, Bickel for Australia). India has to rely on many part-time
performers and suffers from a long tail. Harbhajan, Kumble and
Zaheer cannot be relied upon to score 15 runs collectively.
Thus, the series
gets into a decisive phase, with New Zealand running Australia
close. Although the Kiwis are third in the points table (four points
against Australia's 18 and India's 8), they can move to the second
position, above India, if they manage a victory at Cuttack on
November 6. There are many who believe that New Zealand could have
beaten India in the opening match in Chennai but for the rain and
the abandonment of the match.
Rahul Dravid and
the others in the Indian think-tank have plenty to be worried about
as they move to Cuttack for the next match of the series against New
Zealand -- a day-night encounter on November 6.
R Rangaraj
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