Spinners leave NZ dizzy at 140/8

Nov 23, 2010 |

PTI/IANS

nagpur

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Spin twins Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha wreaked havoc on New Zealand on the fourth day of the third and final Test here today, to put India firmly in sight of one of their most convincing innings victories in recent times.

At lunch on day three, New Zealand were reeling at 140 for eight, needing another 233 runs to avoid innings defeat here at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha.

It's now a matter of time before Mahendra Singh Dhoni has another series win in his kitty.

The spin duo of Harbhajan and Ojha, who never looked threatening during the entire series, proved to be an altogether different proposition here with turn and bounce, that was on offer.

Both Harbhajan (3/43) and Ojha (2/45) got appreciable turn and bounce as the Black Caps batsmen literally struggled to stay on a track that was suddenly looking difficult to bat on. There was sharp turn on offer and some of the balls were also keeping low.

Needing 349 runs to clear the first innings deficit, the visitors needed to show a lot of application but not having encountered appreciable turn and bounce in the previous matches meant that there wasn't a lot of homework done.

The pressure was immense and Daniel Vettori's men surrendered meekly.

Brendon McCullum (25), the double centurion of the last Test, on whom Vettori must have depended a lot, went back in the 14th over as he missed a ball trying to play on the backfoot. It would have hit the leg stump and Simon Taufel made no mistake in ruling the batsman leg before.

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