Hyderabad, Nov. 13: Opener Gautam Gambhir took a leaf out of his New Zealand counterpart Tim McIntosh’s book to shake off his indifferent form and forge a new partnership with Virender Sehwag as India came up with a good reply in the second Test here.

By close of play on the second day, the hosts rode on Sehwag’s 96 and Gambhir’s 54 to be comfortably placed at 178/2 despite losing both quickly towards the end. They trail the visitors’ 350 by 172 runs with enough batting to come — Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease on 11 alongside Rahul Dravid (7).

Tendulkar was tested by Tim Southee, who directed a couple of bouncers into the Little Master’s body only to antagonise the roaring crowd, which is sure to fill the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in anticipation of the legend’s 50th Test century.

Sehwag and Gambhir’s 160-run stand was India’s second highest for the first wicket this year, five short of the one between Sehwag and Murali Vijay against Sri Lanka in July. It was also Sehwag-Gambhir’s second century partnership in 2010, after the 103 vs Bangladesh in January.

While Sehwag, who came into the match after a big hundred in the previous Test, carried on in his inimitable style until he threw his wicket away attempting a wild swing, Gambhir gutting it out with the selectors’ sword hanging over his neck (chairman Kris Srikkanth was at the stadium) was the bigger story.

The Delhi batsman certainly learnt a lot from watching fellow left-handed opener McIntosh bat his way out of the rut on Friday. He adopted an identical approach and reaped similar dividends. Gambhir was edgy initially, struggling a bit with timing. In fact, his essay would have ended as early as in the second over when an edge off Tim Southee flew over the raised palm of Ross Taylor at first slip. However, he put his head down and hung in tough.

Sehwag showed no such signs though, going for his shots with trademark fluency. He was cheeky too, guiding Chris Martin past the slips to the boundary. The strongman continued to score until a slog-sweep to the fence off Vettori, followed by a single brought up his half-century.

With the fifty under his belt, the free-stroking Sehwag only raised the intensity levels, smacking the ball around to the boundary more frequently.

Gambhir brought up his half-ton with a deft touch, running down seamer Tim Southee to the third man fence. Having battled through bad form, the batsman was understandably relieved. Gambhir looked skywards to thank an invisible force before giving his ever-present pal Sehwag a long hug.

Sehwag was surely Gambhir’s soulmate on Saturday, walking down the pitch to offer abundant advice when his unsettled associate tried to play away from his body early on in his innings… not to mention the steady flow of runs he ensured to take the pressure off his perturbed partner.

Earlier in the day, the visitors added 92 runs to their overnight score of 258/4 before being all out 18 minutes after lunch. Zaheer Khan began the day well for India by claiming two quick wickets while Harbhajan Singh got wicket Nos. 7 to 10 as both finished with four-wicket hauls.

Scoreboard
New Zealand 1st innings (overnight 258/4)

T. McIntosh b Zaheer 102, B. McCullum c Dhoni b Sreesanth 4, M. Guptill lbw b Ojha 85, R. Taylor c Dhoni b Zaheer 24, J. Ryder c Laxman b Harbhajan 70, G. Hopkins lbw b Zaheer 4, K. Williamson lbw b Zaheer 4, D. Vettori lbw b Harbhajan 11, T. Southee st Dhoni b Harbhajan 10, B. Arnel not out 6, C. Martin c Sehwag b Harbhajan 3.
Extras: (b2, lb20, nb4, w1) 27
Total (in 117.3 overs) 350
FoW: 1-4, 2-151, 3-206, 4-253, 5-269, 6-287, 7-312, 8-331, 9-338, 10-350.
Bowling: Zaheer 27-8-69-4, Sreesanth 21-1-88-1 (nb4, w1), Harbhajan 35.3-10-76-4, Ojha
27-4-80-1, Raina 7-2-15-0.

India 1st innings

G. Gambhir c Hopkins b Southee 54, V. Sehwag b Vettori 96, R. Dravid not out 7, S.
Tendulkar not out 11.
Extras: (b1, lb8, nb1) 10
Total (in 49 overs) 178/2
FoW: 1-160, 2-160.
Bowling: Martin 12-4-37-0, Southee 12-2-45-1, Arnel 11-2-25-0, Vettori 12-0-45-1, Williamson 2-0-17-0.