Kohlis how-to manual

It hadnt taken him long to get into the forties,cutting with fierceness off both the front and backfoot to steal bonus boundaries. For once,he had pulled gloriously too,standing up bravely to the fast mens short stuff and rolling his wrists in a gracious,horizontal,arc across his spine. It was,in fact,a pull shot that got him to 43 off 44 balls. Then the tension began.

On 46,he was struck on the pads by offie Jeetan Patel. On 47,he nicked Doug Bracewell just short of gully. On 48,he was stumped by Kruger van Wyks quick hands. But Patel had chosen the wrong occasion to bowl the third no ball of his six-year long Test career. On 49,the batsman shuttered down for 14 balls.

Then,following much ceremony,Raina nudged Patel past slips and became the first Indian on the day,a gyrating second day of the Test,to raise his bat to the crowds. Such was the relief in the man,that he promptly glanced Tim Southee down the leg side,and into van Wyks mittens. And returning to the pavilion,he walked past two men Virat Kohli and new man MS Dhoni who would go on to give him and everyone concerned a masterclass in how not to waste a start,let alone hard toil.

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Thanks to Rainas innings,India clawed back from a potentially hazardous position,as Gautam Gambhir,Cheteshwar Pujara,Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar,in that order,had all surrendered without a fist. But it was Kohli,and not Raina,who really surged India to a place where they could call the shots from 283 with five wickets in hand,trailing New Zealands 365 by 82. The Delhi boys unbeaten 93 was a study in determination,grit and a whole load of poise. And that tenacity is only learnt by spending time on the field. Something New Zealand s lower order and India s upper did not do on Saturday.

The day began with the visitors losing their last four remaining wickets for just 37 runs. Van Wyk,who was unbeaten overnight on 63,was the first to depart,dismissed by Zaheer Khan. Zaheers luck would be such in the morning that even when he dropped Southee in his follow-through,the ball still ricocheted off his palms and ran out Bracewell at the non-strikers end. Bracewell and Southee wouldnt have minded it much,however,as they now had a chance at having an early go at the Indians in raw and nippy conditions. And what a go they had.

Southee made Gambhir and Pujara walk into his set-ups just before lunch,Bracewell cleaned up Sehwag and Tendulkar just after. At that point,with two new boys in,saving follow-on must have seemed a daunting task. Raina took care of that nothing more,nothing less.

Although Kohli really flourished in the company of his free-scoring skipper,the story of his innings began well before he churned out the runs. Having watched the ball and understood the needs of this pitch for his first 20 balls he was then still on three,Kohli soon realised keeping a straight bat was the need of the hour. And doing just that,he stroked the shot of the day. Bracewell wavered marginally in length,and Kohli drove the full one past the umpire like a rally car expert.

It looked even more convincing when he repeated the act with first Trent Boult,and then James Franklin at the receiving end,the incoming angle of the left-arm seamers making the stroke seem quite exquisite. Dhoni,however,was in little mood for elegance crashing Patel uglily over mid-wicket and square-leg for consecutive sixes. The twin hits proved that the dull afternoon glow had indeed burnt any traces of moisture on the pitch.

After tea,Kohli expanded his repertoire to both sides of the wicket. The cuts found the toblerones,as did the swivelling pulls and gentle on-drives. Seven runs away from a ton,he will begin Day 3 in the nervous nineties. At some point soon,Raina too will wish to be there.