India vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Day three

It was yet again a fascinating day of cricket today at Hamilton. NZ, to start with, must have hoped to take a couple of wickets upfront in the first hour, to gain access to the Indian tail. Didn’t happen soon though. The obstacle on their way was Sachin Tendulkar.

A hundred plus partnership followed with Dhoni (115 to be precise) after the overnight one with Yuvraj ended (a 76-run one). Sachin carved out his 42nd test century in the morning and went on to score a tremendous 160 before nicking O’Brien to the wicket keeper.

When they finally managed to get to the tail, they ran into Zaheer Khan, whose late burst saw India going past the 500 mark and established an over all lead of 241 runs in the first innings.

Then on it was always going to be an uphill task for the Kiwis, who scored 75 for the day with a loss of 3 wickets. Now they are behind by 166 runs with 7 wickets in hand. With two full days of cricket left (that is assuming no weather intervention), it’s India who are absolutely in the driver’s seat in this test.

But to play the devil’s advocate, anything is possible in cricket……. who knows………. a Ryder might just do a VVS Laxman out of the blue, and you can’t discount Taylor too. The Kiwis are known for doing the unexpected at home and especially when India is chasing history, skepticism do creep in to our minds.

What team India needs to do is, to go for the kill. Absolutely no mercy and no complacency till the job is finished.

After all, its them who are eyeing the number one spot in the world.