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| Indians Celebration |
India's seamers had New Zealand in all kinds of problems before stand-in captain Ross Taylor and Scott Styris launched a strong recovery with an unbeaten 95-run partnership in the opening game of the tri-series in Dambulla. There was sharp seam and swing movement in the early stages, followed by bite and turn for the slow bowlers, but New Zealand's most experienced top-order batsmen were up to the task to set their side on course for the par score of around 250.
Within the first two overs, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra showed what India missed through out the Test series: genuine swing. Praveen got the ball to move both ways, darting into the right-handers late, and holding back the length to hit the seam and take them away. Martin Guptill perished to one of the away swingers, unable to cover the movement and getting an outside edge to Dhoni.
Nehra focused on his stock ball - the inswinger straightening from round the stumps - and interspersed it with deliveries that held their line. In the sixth over, Dhoni had his second catch when Peter Ingram poked without conviction at one that held its line after landing on off stump.
Kane Williamson had a forgettable debut with the bat, with both bowlers working him over as India attacked with innovative fields, including a silly mid-off to snaffle airy drives. Praveen nailed Williamson with the ball of the afternoon, one that darted away menacingly from the middle-and-leg line. Williamson, possibly concerned by the silly mid-off fieldsman, looked to flick across the line and lost his off stump for a duck. At 28 for 3, New Zealand were in disarray.
Abhimanyu Mithun, who came in first change, kept up the pressure with his in-duckers and had Scott Styris in trouble more than once. Praveen was nigh on unplayable, bowling three consecutive maidens as the innings got stuck in first gear - only 14 runs were scored in a period of seven overs after the first five, but New Zealand were about to break free.
Pragyan Ojha came on in the 15th over, bowling with a slip and silly mid-on as Styris and Taylor settled into a survive-and-steal mode. Ojha got the ball to turn sharply away from the right-handers and had Taylor in strife often, inducing leading edges that kept landing between fielders in the off side. Both of them eventually found their feet as the ball lost its shine, lashing the seamers through the packed off-side field for boundaries.
Dhoni replaced Mithun with Ravindra Jadeja in the 18th over and Taylor responded by cutting him fine and square for boundaries. The pressure was easing off, but Dhoni kept attacking with close-in fielders. Styris almost fell for the bait, stepping out against Ojha and missing the loft, but Dhoni fluffed the stumping with the batsman well out of the crease. It was the only blemish in an otherwise sprightly fielding effort, with Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma being particularly impressive.
Ojha's sharp spin tempted Dhoni into introducing Yuvraj Singh into the attack, making this a rare instance when India bowled three left-arm spinners. The batsmen managed to survive the period and were helped by Ojha's inability to settle on the right length. Styris opened up against him with boundaries in the 23rd over and Taylor kept the scoreboard ticking to reach his fifty as New Zealand continued to rebuild.
