Nov. 4: New Zealand have their backs to the wall here. With Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman at the crease, and India skipper M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina waiting in the pavilion, the hosts have a great opportunity post a massive first inning total on Day Two of the first Test on Friday.
The Kiwis, are however, focusing on the positives that emerged from Thursday.
“They were looking at 400 at the end of the day at one stage and to finish on 300-plus was some good work from us at the end of the day,” Kiwi all-rounder Jesse Ryder said after the day’s play. “It was good to get both centurions Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in the end. If we can bowl well tomorrow and get early wickets things will bring some change for us.”
Ryder, who gave his side the first breakthrough by dismissing opener Gautam Gambhir, said their bowlers had failed to execute plans, but added that Sehwag was hard to stop.
“We had our plans against Sehwag. We obviously knew that he will come out and have a go against us. At times we didn’t bowl to our plans and we let him get away,” he said.
“It’s hard to stop a batsman who is going like that unless you stick to your plans. And we didn’t always do that,” the burly left-handed mentioned.