By CricketCountry Staff
Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli consolidated Indian innings as hosts reached 168 runs for the loss of four wickets against New Zealand at the close of second session on day two of the second Test, on Saturday.
Published: Sep 01, 2012, 02:23 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 01, 2012, 02:23 PM (IST)
India still trail New Zealand by 197 runs © AFP
By CricketCountry Staff
Bengaluru: Sep 1, 2012
Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli consolidated Indian innings as hosts reached 168 runs for the loss of four wickets against New Zealand at the close of second session on day two of the second Test, on Saturday.
Raina and Kohli were batting on 51 and 33 respectively after putting on a partnership of 88 runs in 144 balls for the unbroken fifth wicket to take India to 168 for four at tea at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
Raina, who walked on to the middle when India were reduced to 80 for four, took charge and immediately launched an attack against Kiwi bowlers. He hit eight boundaries and a six from the 79 balls he had faced so far.
Raina was rutheless against Doug Bracewell and Tim Southee, who had packed the Indian top order batsmen back to the pavillion, smacking them to boundaries.
Raina had a big slice of luck while on his individual score of 48 when the third umpire Sudhir Asnani ruled him not out in an appeal for stumping by Krugner van Wyk as Jeetan Patel had overstepped the bowling line.
However, Raina soon reached to his seveth Test half century after he took a couple of runs to third man off Patel.
Virat Kohli, who was sedate for a long time, found his bearing soon after as he blasted a six off Kiwi spinner for a six. As the innings progressed Kohli got his timing right as he cracked delightful boundaries. He hit four boundaries and a six from the 67 balls he had faced so far.
Resuming play after lunch, Doug Bracewell provided a good start for New Zealand striking twice in quick session to dismiss the dangerous Virender Sehwag (43) and Sachin Tendulkar (17), leaving India tottering at 80 for four.
Sehwag flicked lazily to a fuller ball off Bracewell for Flynn to take a sharp catch high to his right at midwicket.
Two overs later, Tendulkar’s middle stump was disturbed as he tried to drive with an angled bat a pitched-up delivery off Bracewell.
Raina, who scored just three runs in Hyderabad Test, looked in good touch. Facing his fourth ball, the southpaw smashed Trent Boult to a boundary to fine leg fence making his intentions clear.
In the next over, Raina punished Bracewell, hitting him three successive boundaries. He again sprayed two boundaries against Southee as India raced past 100 run mark in 27 overs.
New Zealand captain Taylor introduced spinner Jeetan Patel and immediately applied brakes on the run flow for the next seven odd overs. However, Kohli and Raina waited for the right time and hit Patel for 15 runs in an over.
After hitting a six off Patel, Kohli soon found his bearing and executed two glorious drives to the fence. First, he clipped Bracewell through mid-on and the straight-drove Boult with great timing.
Earlier in the morning session, India wrapped up New Zealand’s first innings at 365 but lost a couple of early wickets to go to the lunch break at 63 for two. Sehwag and Tendulkar were on 39 and four respectively at that stage.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 365 (Ross Taylor 113, Kruger van Wyk 71, Martin Guptill 53; Pragyan Ojha 5 for 99, Zaheer Khan 2 for 83) lead India 168 for 4 (Suresh Raina 51*, Virender Sehwag 43, Virat Kohli 33*; Tim Southee 2 for 22) by 197 runs
