Dravid and Laxman put India on top

Close India 249 for 3 (Dravid 110*, Laxman 56*)
Scorecard

A splendid hundred from Rahul Dravid, now at the very height of his powers as a Test match batsman, was the fulcrum of the innings as India reached 249 for 3 at the end of the first day's play at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Ahmedabad, a position which they will look to covert into an unassailable first-innings score on the morrow. Dravid was ably supported by VVS Laxman, who came to the crease with India in a spot of bother at 134 for 3. The two put on 115 for the fourth wicket, of which Laxman's share was 56.

Dravid came to the crease in the eleventh over of the innings, after Virender Sehwag had fallen for 29. Dravid caught up quickly with Akash Chopra, with whom he put on 72 for the second wicket, then saw Sachin Tendulkar come and go, and prospered in the company of Laxman, with whom he shared one of Test cricket's most memorable batting partnerships in that Test match against Australia at Kolkata two seasons ago.

The New Zealand attack was fairly disciplined, but so was Dravid. He made most of his runs in the area between point and cover; in fact, all but three of his thirteen boundaries came in this region. A number of these were drives off the seam bowlers, his front foot out right to the pitch of the ball and his head low as he leant on the ball and caressed it through the covers in copybook fashion. To the spinners, on a slowish pitch, his preferred shot was the drive off the back foot, going right back against his stumps and hitting down on the ball right at the top of its bounce. He hit several such shots off Daniel Vettori over the course of the day, and it was the reason Vettori was unable to get on top of him as he could with the other Indian batsmen.

Dravid and Laxman reclaimed the advantage for India in the last session after New Zealand had worked their way back into the game with two hours of disciplined and persistent cricket after lunch, conceding just 73 runs for the wickets of Chopra and Tendulkar. The architect of New Zealand's revival was Vettori, who bowled unchanged for the entire session, troubled both Chopra and Tendulkar - though not the redoubtable Dravid - and showed why he is considered the best left-arm spinner on the scene today.

India had gone in to lunch at 76 for 1, and in the second session Chopra and Dravid kept up the good work, taking India past 100. Chopra was dropped by Robbie Hart off Daryl Tuffey when on 34, but that had been Chopra's only aberration until Vettori lured him into making a second, and fatal, mistake. Noticing Chopra's willingness to come down the wicket to drive - one such stroke, beautifully executed, was hit against the spin past mid-on for four - Vettori kept tossing the ball up, and held one back a fraction. Down the wicket again, Chopra could only hit it straight back to the bowler. Chopra's first innings in Test cricket brought him 42, and he batted for the most part with discipline, resolve, and a commendably straight bat.

Vettori had said before the tour that he considered it essential to tie the Indian batsmen as a prelude to him, or another bowler, getting them out, and he proved that he could carry out such a plan even to someone as skilful as Tendulkar. He troubled Tendulkar with intelligent variations of flight and spin, as also the angle from which he delivered the ball, and most importantly, allowed no release of tension. Tendulkar had scratched around for 37 balls in scoring 8 when he attempted to drive a full and wide delivery from Styris - it was, in fact, an off-break delivered at medium pace - and edged it straight to Nathan Astle at first slip. It was only Styris's sixth Test wicket from as many games.

If New Zealand finally emerged from the post-lunch session on top after a long tussle, they had to quell a completely different kind of threat in the morning session, as Virender Sehwag threatened to run away with the game in the first hour with a series of blazing strokes.

Fleming decided to take cognisance of the ferocity of Sehwag's square-cutting from the very beginning. Fielders were placed at third man and deep point to cut off what might have been a spate of boundaries, and two, even three, gullies waited for the ball that was hit in the air.

Sehwag was undeterred by these measures: he cut Jacob Oram past the squarer of the two gullies for four, and then a slash off Tuffey flew over Craig McMillan at third man for six. After taking some early punishment, Tuffey tightened his line to him, and finally got one to cut back a long way to trap him lbw.

Stephen Fleming would be disappointed with the day's efforts after the successful forays made by his team in the post-lunch session. The bowlers gave away too many runs in the last hour of play, and none apart from Vettori posed a serious threat to the batsmen. In fact, Paul Wiseman, his second spinner, bowled just five overs in the day. Fleming will know that his team will have to make some early breakthroughs tomorrow, or else it could be a long hard grind in the sun.

Chandrahas Choudhury is a staff writer with Wisden Asia Cricket.

The Wisden Verdict: Planning's not enough
NZ View: Tuffey makes his point
Wisden Stats: How NZ missed a trick
Roving Reporter: Screaming for Sa-chin
Quotes