India in box seat

CRICKET: WELLINGTON, April 4, 2009 - India took a big step towards winning their first Test series in New Zealand since 1968 after racking up a 233-run lead early in their second innings of the third Test here on Saturday.

India were on 51 for one at stumps on the second day after dismissing New Zealand for 197 in reply to the tourists’ first innings total of 379.

Pace bowler Zaheer Khan did most of the damage to New Zealand, taking five for 65 with a mixture of swinging full pitched balls and a barrage of shorter deliveries.

INDIA - 1ST INNINGS
(379 - S. Tendulkar 62, M.S. Dhoni 52, H. Singh 60; Martin 4-98, O’Brien 2-89).

NEW ZEALAND - 1ST INNINGS		

T. McIntosh c Y. Singh b Khan 			 32
M. Guptill b Khan 17 D. Flynn c Dhoni b Khan 	 02
R. Taylor c Dhoni b Harbhajan 			 42
J. Ryder c Dhoni b Khan 			 03
J. Franklin c Sehwag b Harhajan 		 15
B. McCullum c Dhoni b Harbhajan 		 24
D. Vettori c Dhoni b Sharma 			 11
T. Southee c and b Khan 			 16
I. O’Brien c Dhoni b Patel 			 19
C. Martin not out 				 04
Extras (b 9, lb 3) 				 12
Total (all out; 65 overs) 			197

Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Guptill), 2-31 (Flynn), 3-80 (McIntosh), 4-98 
		(Ryder), 5-120 (Taylor), 6-125 (Franklin), 7-138 (Vettori), 8-160 (Southee), 
		9-181, 10-197 (O’Brien).

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 18-2-65-5, Sharma 14-3-47-1, Patel 8-2-20-1, 
	Harbhajan Singh 23-4-43-3, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-10-0.

INDIA - 2ND INNINGS

G. Ghambirnot out 			28
V. Sehwag c Taylor b Martin 		12
R. Dravid not out 			09
Extras (lb 2) 				02
Total (1 wickets; 16 overs) 		51

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Sehwag).

To bat: Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 
		(capt), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel. 

Bowling: Southee 3-0-13-0, Martin 4-2-13-1, O’Brien 5-2-8-0, Franklin 3-0-15-0, Ryder 1-1-0-0.
AFP