McMillan and Astle save the Test

India 500 for 5 dec and 209 for 6 dec drew with New Zealand 340 and 209 for 6 (McMillan 83*, Astle 51*, Kumble 4-95)
Scorecard

Victory was in sight for India in the first Test, never more so than when they had New Zealand six wickets down for 169 just before tea, but in the end the portents of the last two days and of history proved to be sound. Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle both made their second fifty-plus scores of the match, and batted for over 40 overs to make the game safe for New Zealand. The Test match, which was at its crackling best on the second evening when Zaheer Khan shot out the New Zealand top order, meandered to a draw, as India could not recreate that intensity and found the task of labouring for every New Zealand wicket too difficult after a point.

The best moments of the day came in the first two sessions, which saw some fascinating tussles between the Indian spinners and the two best New Zealand batsmen on the day, Lou Vincent and McMillan. Anil Kumble, lost from view over nine months of nothing but one-day cricket, was seen again in his best form.

Kumble bowled 33 overs in the day, as did his fellow spinner Harbhajan Singh, and it was only when he tired late in the afternoon that New Zealand began to play him with assurance. Sourav Ganguly only turned to him in the 13th over of the day, but when he came on he immediately made an impact, hurrying a ball through the defences of Daryl Tuffey and hitting his middle stump (68 for 2). India scented victory when Stephen Fleming fell shortly after to the wiles of Harbhajan, and then Kumble struck again, hitting Scott Styris flush on the front foot with a quicker delivery and ending his brief three-ball visit to the wicket (86 for 4).

But New Zealand put together two crucial partnerships after this, as first Vincent and McMillan and then McMillan and Astle put paid to India's chances. Vincent and McMillan produced a spurt of runs for New Zealand in the hour after lunch, taking full advantage of some adventurous field placements by Ganguly, and taking New Zealand past 150. It was Kumble again who brought India back into the game, in an over that exemplified the battle of wits fought between the New Zealand batsmen and him.

Kumble, who bowled over the wicket for most of the day,came round the wicket at the beginning of the over with two close-in fielders on the leg side, and just a mid-on and a deep square leg behind them. Vincent knocked the first ball for four through the yawning gap at midwicket, and then, emboldened by the stroke, rushed down the pitch to the next ball to take it on the half-volley and hit it away through the same gap for another boundary.

Kumble came back over the wicket, and plugged away again at an off-stump line, but the rush of runs seemed to have had some effect on Vincent. Having hardly made a run on the offside all day, he shaped to cut a Kumble legbreak, was defeated by its lack of pace off the pitch, and bottom-edged it onto his stumps, spinning away in agony as he surveyed the damage behind him (150 for 5). Vincent batted with exemplary discipline for his 67, from 184 balls. He put on 64 for the fifth wicket with McMillan.

India might reflect that they got as far into the New Zealand batting as they did because of Nathan Astle's indisposition. Astle suffered a stomach upset, and only came into bat at No.8, after Jacob Oram was out (169 for 6). In the first innings he had led the way for New Zealand with good support from McMillan, but this time the roles were reversed.

McMillan's 83 not out, off 191 balls, was the effort that put the game beyond India, for he batted with assurance, and the determination of one who has just returned to form after a long spell in the doldrums - his highest score in his eight Test innings before this game was 18, and he was dropped from the side for the tour of Sri Lanka. As in the first innings, he did much of his batting down on his front knee, sweeping or lapping the spinners.

Often there was an element of risk in these strokes, as they flew off the top edge into the leg side. But even if these shots were not strictly necessary, he seemed to feel that playing them prevented the building up of the tension that comes from being scoreless for long periods of time. His methods were sometimes unconventional, but they worked, and New Zealand will proceed to the second Test at Mohali still level in the series.

Now if only they could so something to their bowling, they could begin to think of winning it.