The wash-out of the first Test was more a handicap to the Indians than the New Zealanders, and the visitors must have approached the swirling conditions in Wellington with some apprehension.When Simon Doull had the Indians at 16 for four on the first
Partab Ramchand24-Dec-2002Every Indian tour of New Zealand has been affected by rain andbad light, and the last trip there in 1998-99 was no different.In fact, the scheduled three-Test series got reduced to two asthe first match at Dunedin was abandoned because of a downpour.There was never really any chance of play, and the umpiresformally abandoned the game on the third day. Of the tworemaining Tests, New Zealand won one and the other was drawn,which meant that the hosts had lost only one series to India insix contests at home the first one, played way back in 1967-68.
The wash-out of the first Test was more a handicap to the Indiansthan the New Zealanders, and the visitors must have approachedthe swirling conditions in Wellington with some apprehension.When Simon Doull had the Indians at 16 for four on the firstmorning, the match was virtually decided.
It was essentially a battle between a team made up of severalstars and another constituting essentially of journeymen. But thehome team proved to be fitter and more committed and resilient.India’s stars performed only in fits and starts, and consistencywas sadly lacking. They suffered a setback in the opening firstclass fixture of the tour when they lost to Central Districts byseven wickets. Although they recovered to defeat Wellington byeight wickets in the only other firstclass game before the Testseries, the portents of defeat were all too apparent, especiallygiven their none-too-convincing record in New Zealand.The wash-out of the first Test was more a handicap to the Indiansthan the New Zealanders, and the visitors must have approachedthe swirling conditions in Wellington with some apprehension.When Simon Doull had the Indians at 16 for four on the firstmorning, the match was virtually decided. Navjot Sidhu, RahulDravid and Nayan Mongia all failed to score, and it took a braveunbeaten 103 by Mohammad Azharuddin to get India to 208. TheIndian captain’s 21st Test century was made in the face of someinspired bowling by Doull, who kept an admirable line and lengthand used the wind to swing the ball menacingly. He finished withseven for 65, the fourth-best figures for New Zealand in Testcricket.The Indian bowlers fought back, and New Zealand lost sevenwickets in catching up with India’s moderate total. But a recordeighth-wicket partnership of 137 between Dion Nash and DanielVettori helped them wrest back the initiative. A lead of 144 wasalways going to be handy, even if the Indians did much better inthe second innings, posting a total of 356. Sachin Tendulkar topscored with 113 and the New Zealanders were left a victory targetof 213.Again India’s bowlers did very well, and at the end of the fourthday, New Zealand were 73 for four effectively five, as NathanAstle had retired after having his hand fractured by a deliveryfrom Javagal Srinath. A fifth wicket fell at 74, but then CraigMcMillian (74 not out) and Chris Cairns (61) quashed Indian hopesof a victory by adding 137 runs for the sixth wicket. Cairns gotout trying to hit the winning stroke, and that honour fittinglywent to Nash.India never really had a chance to square the series in the finalTest at Hamilton. The pitch was too good, as symbolised by thefour centuries and as many as eight other scores over the halfcentury mark being notched up. The one consolation was that Indiahad the Man of the Match in Dravid, who became only the thirdplayer from the country to get a hundred in each innings of aTest after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar (who performed thefeat three times).New Zealand led off with 366, to which the Indians replied with416. This represented a pretty good recovery, for at one stagethey were 211 for seven. Dravid and Srinath added 144 runs forthe eighth wicket, with the fast bowler getting a career-best 76.Then Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad (30) carried India’s total pastNew Zealand’s with a ninth-wicket association of 61. Dravid wasfinally out for 190 after having batted for more than eight hoursand hitting 31 fours.The first-innings lead of 50 seemed to be valuable when NewZealand were 85 for four in the second knock. Thereafter, though,India’s bowling ran out of steam, and McMillan (84), Adam Parore(50), Cairns (126), Nash (63) and Daniel Vettori (43 not out) allmade merry. Stephen Fleming delayed the declaration at 464 foreight until after lunch, and in the remaining time, Dravid hithis second century (103 not out) while Sourav Ganguly too got anunbeaten 101 as the Indians closed at 249 for two. Incidentallythis was Sidhu’s 51st and last Test.The five-match series of one-day internationals was keenlyfought, and fittingly it ended with each side winning two matchesand the third game at Wellington being declared a no-result. NewZealand won the first by five wickets on the Duckworth-Lewissystem, while India hit back by taking the second by two wickets.India maintained the momentum with a five-wicket victory in thefourth ODI, only for New Zealand to draw level with a 70-run winin the final game.