India can well fancy a chance of winning a Test match in New Zealand for the first time since 1976. Sachin Tendulkar's classic 160 runs and three New Zealand wickets in the second innings have put India in the driver's seat.
In reply to hosts' first innings total of 279 runs, India were all out for 520 runs with a lead of 241 runs. Tendulkar led Indian batting's motivated performance. While three batsmen made half-centuries, Sachin raised a well-crafted hundred.
Chasing the target of 241 runs, New Zealand lost three wickets with just 75 runs on the board. They lost their opener Tim McIntosh in the very first over of Zaheer Khan. After an unbeaten fifty, Zaheer got McIntosh for a naught. With this wicket, the left-hand seamer became the sixth Indian bowler to complete 200 Test wickets. A fuller delivery from Zaheer took the outside edge of the bat and went at first slip where Sachin Tendulkar took a low catch. But was it a clean one? Well, umpire Gould was convinced.
deserved fifty after he was dismissed for 48 runs by Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Guptill lofted an over-pitched delivery and Virender Sehwag took a diving catch to send him back.
Losing two key batsmen, New Zealand sent Kyle Mills as the nightwatchman but he perished to day's last ball. Munaf Patel caught him plumb in front of the wicket for 2 runs.
Tendulkar, on the other hand, continued to toy with the Kiwi bowlers. His dominating knock gave India a solid lead in the Test. He faced 260 balls and hit twenty-six boundaries to complete 42nd Test hundred, his fourth against the hosts.
He added 115 runs for the sixth wicket with MS Dhoni. The Indian skipper supported him well and scored 47 runs, but a short ball from Iain O'Brien brushed his gloves before going into the hands of wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum.
Sachin looked fit to continue the marauder's act but O'Brien struck to claim him as the most prized Indian wicket. The ball bounced high and kissed the top edge of a hopping Tendulkar's bat before travelling to Ross Taylor at the first slip.
After Dhoni and Sachin's fall, Harbhajan played a cameo of 16 runs. He tried to clean Kyle Mills through the long-off boundary but Kiwi skipper Vettori took a good catch at mid-off to see him back.
Zaheer, on the other end, took India's lead past 200. In the process he also completed his third Test fifty with the help of eight fours. Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel were taken by Vettori for 6 and 9 respectively.
