On Saturday, India’s top-order crumbled against the Kiwi pacemen, who bowled in the off-stump corridor with such regularity and swung the ball that Gautam Gambhir was beaten and Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Cheteshwar Pujara were pushed into playing false shots, says a report in Hindustan Times, adding that at 80/4, Kohli had to gear up for another rescue effort, like the one he mounted in Hyderabad. This time, there was no solid Pujara but Suresh Raina, who was fighting to justify his inclusion. It was heartening to see young guns Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina revive the India innings before skipper MS Dhoni joined in the fightback.
The Kiwis were upbeat after raising a decent total and the wicket was also less benign. In short, it was a test of mettle of the young middle-order batsmen after they had faced questions following the departure of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. “When I walked in, Virat asked me to take things easy. I’ve had some good scores in one-day cricket, so I knew I was in form,” said Raina.
Falling back on the ODI methods was perhaps the best way to go for Raina. There was no show of nerves as he made the most of the width the Kiwi bowlers offered him initially. A loud roar greeted Tendulkar, and despite his 41-ball struggle for four runs before lunch, the fans gave another roar when he punched Doug Bracewell straight down to the fence. But that was it. If Trent Boult’s delivery in Hyderabad was a beauty, this one from Bracewell was innocuous, Tendulkar playing across and missing one that was angled in. Countless TV replays were shown and silence descended on the ground till Raina lifted the mood.
Meanwhile a report in The Hindu says that though it is premature to draw any serious conclusions yet but if Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina are hoping for a long-term tenancy of the Indian middle order, they have done their credentials with the landlord no harm in this second Test match.
They did a fine job of dragging their side out of the muck on the second day, when there was a genuine danger of embarrassment. At 80 for four and plenty behind, first Raina counterpunched his way to a half-century, and then Kohli assuredly allied with the skipper M.S. Dhoni, to guide the home team to relative safety.
Kohli was seven runs away from a second Test-match century at stumps, Dhoni alongside on 40, and their unbroken association worth 104. India finished 283 for five, still trailing New Zealand by 82.
Meanwhile The Times Of India writes that Virat Kohli is a mere 10 Tests old but with each innings he's indeed looking the part. He had to wage a fight on two fronts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday - tackle a relentless New Zealand pace attack and defuse a tense situation.
He handled both fronts with aplomb, taming the bowling with the perfect mixture of attack and defence while also retrieving the situation for India as day two of the second Test ended with the hosts on 283 for five, 82 runs short of New Zealand's 365. Kohli himself was unbeaten on a classy 93 (262m, 174b, 12x4, 1x6), skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni giving him company with a solid 46 (135m, 70b, 5x4, 2x6).
New Zealand must be kicking themselves for two shortcomings they laid bare in the match. In the morning, by being dismissed for the addition of 37 runs to the overnight total of 328 for 6, they showed that unlike the Kiwi bird, which has no tail, their team had a long one.
Then with the Indians down at 80 for 4 - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar back in the hut along with last Test centurion Cheteshwar Pujara - they just couldn't shut the hosts out much to the delight of the 20,000-odd people.
