India-New Zealand: Little Master Gives Masterly Performance

What can you say when Sachin Tendulkar scores a century?

Legendary.

I cannot look for any other word for most of his centuries. Calling them great is an insult to the master.

There was huge speculation about the way Tendulkar played on day two. All i can say is that he started as Mr. Hyde and ended the day closer to Dr. Jekyll  (check Anon Payn's article for the Jekyll and Hyde references).

Today, of course, we only saw the ruthless Jekyll.

But was the whole day only centered around him? i don't think so.

Though he beat everyone in strokeplay and classiness today, Yuvraj Singh got the day started with a flurry of boundaries from his bat and transferred the momentum to Sachin.

It is a pity Yuvi had to get out because of misjudging and leaving a Chris Martin leg cutter(for a right hander) from around the wicket and get bowled.

It was then Dhoni who partnered Sach and put up a hundred stand though surprisingly he contributed only about 20 to 35 percent of the partnership.

He was in a defensive mood today up until lunch.

After lunch he started meeting the ball well and it's a pity he had to go when he was starting to let go.

Tendulkar then completed his 150 and finally got out on 160.

Then the tail added some crucial runs and with Zaheer Khan remaining unbeaten on 51 which was scored at over a run a ball.

Ian 'O' Brien was the best of their bowlers and got the deserved wicket of Sachin and Dhoni to add to Dravid's wicket yesterday. Martin was also good but for some reason Daniel Vettori the captain did not bowl him much. He himself bowled a tight spell and got two wickets in the end.

The Kiwi fielding was decent, but the catching was miserable. They dropped many including, that of Zaheer when he was looking to get set.

In reply, the Indians started with the wicket of Tim Machintosh in the first over of the innings, which was bowled by Zaheer.

The Martin Guptill and Daniel Flynn put up a decent fight and added a few before Guptill played a harbhajan singh half volley in the air and Sehwag took the catch.

On the last ball of the day Munaf Patal picked up the deserved wicket of Kyle Mills the Nightwatchman and the day ended.

New Zealand trail by 166 runs with seven wickets in hand. They will be hoping that Flynn continues his good work and is supported by all other batsmen.

At the end of day three India have their whole body ahead and are looking set to win the match after such a great performance over three days.

New Zealand, on the other hand, are looking to make friends with rain as they are looking for help.