Bizarre bowling alley

Twenty two wickets fell in a bizarre day’s play on a seamer’s dream wicket in the second Test between India and New Zealand here t...

Twenty two wickets fell in a bizarre day’s play on a seamer’s dream wicket in the second Test between India and New Zealand here today, at the end of which the match was tantalisingly poised. After being shot out for 99 in their first innings, the Indians gave back a dose of their own medicine to the home side by bundling them out for 94, thanks to a career-best five for 29 by left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan.

Struggling again on a difficult wicket which, however, had eased a little on the third day, the Indians managed to reach 154 in their second innings with Rahul Dravid once again playing well for a solid 39, Sachin Tendulkar cracking a crisp 32 and Virender Sehwag hitting a quickfire 25.

Zaheer Khan in action during against New Zealand at Hamilton on Saturday.

Needing 160 to win the match and the two-Test series, the New Zealanders hung on grimly till the end of the extended day’s play to make 24 without loss. An easy dropped catch of Lou Vincent by Sanjay Bangar off the bowling of Tinu Yohannan helped the home team’s cause, but it is still anybody’s game.

The Indian first innings lasted just seven balls this morning, as the last two wickets fell for the addition of seven runs to the overnight score of 92 for eight. The young Parthiv Patel, who had done well to hang in for 44 balls yesterday, was out to the first delivery he faced today, caught by wicketkeeper Robbie Hart off Jacob Oram for his overnight eight. Ashish Nehra pulled Shane Bond for a six before edging the next delivery to first slip for a good catch to Stephen Fleming.

Story continues below this ad

The Indians had been bowled out for their third consecutive low score on this tour, but the bowlers responded very well to the challenge this time, proving their effectiveness on a helpful pitch.

New Zealand first innings lasted just 38.2 overs, exactly the same as the Indian first innings, and the visitors were back on the crease midway into the second session.

In between, Zaheer Khan bowled an inspiring spell to torment the New Zealand batting and rubbish Fleming’s claims yesterday that his batsmen were probably better equipped to handle the seaming conditions. Zaheer, who had returned his first five-wicket haul in the Wellington Test, struck early to dismiss opener Lou Vincent when New Zealand had scored only seven runs and then claimed the wickets of Mark Richardson (13), Fleming (21), Hart (3) and Daniel Vettori (6) to grab his career-best haul. The 32-run partnership for the second wicket between Richardson and Fleming was the best that New Zealand could muster as wickets fell at regular intervals, with Nehra and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also chipping in with two scalps each. New Zealand’s first innings total of 94 was their lowest against India, a decrease of six runs in their previous low of 100 posted in Wellington in 1980-81. (PTI)

	SCOREBOARD
India (1st Innings): S Bangar c Oram b Tuffey 1; V Sehwag c Richardson b Bond 1; R Dravid c Hart b Tuffey 9; S Tendulkar c Styris b Tuffey 9; S Ganguly c Fleming b Tuffey 5; V V S Laxman b Bond 23; P Patel c Hart b Oram 8; Harbhajan Singh b Bond 20; Zaheer Khan b Oram 0; A Nehra c Fleming b Bond 7; T Yohannan not out 0; Extras (lb-12, nb-4): 16 Total: 99 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-11, 3-26, 4-34, 5-40, 6-70, 7-91, 8-92, 9-93. Bowling: Bond 14.2-7-39-3, Tuffey 9-6-12-4, Oram 10-1-22-1, Styris 2-0-10-0, Astle 3-2-4-0. New Zealand (1st Innings): M.Richardson lbw Zaheer Khan 13; L.Vincent c Dravid b Zaheer Khan 3; S.Fleming c & b Zaheer Khan 25; C.McMillan c Dravid b Nehra 4; N.Astle c Harbhajan Singh b Nehra 0; S.Styris lbw Harbhajan Singh 13; J.Oram c Tendulkar b Harbhajan Singh 3; R.Hart lbw Zaheer Khan 3; D.Vettori c Laxman b Zaheer Khan 6; D.Tuffey run out 13; S.Bond not out 0; Extras (lb-4, b-1, nb-6): 11 Total: 94 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-39, 3-47, 4-48, 5-60, 6-64, 7-69, 8-79, 9-93 Bowling: Zaheer Khan 13.2-4-29-5, Yohannan 9-4-16-0, Nehra 8-3-20-2, Bangar 2-1-4-0, Harbhajan Singh 6-0-20-2. India (2nd Innings): S Bangar c and b Tuffey 7; P Patel b Tuffey 0; R Dravid c Mason (sub) b Oram 39; S Tendulkar b Tuffey 32; S Ganguly c Hart b Oram 5; V V S Laxman b Astle 4; V Sehwag c Tuffey b Bond 25; Harbhajan Singh c Hart b Tuffey 18; Zaheer Khan c Astle b Oram 0; A Nehra c Hart b Oram 10; T Yohannan not out 8; Extras (lb-1, w-2, nb-3): 6 Total: 154 Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8, 3-57, 4-64, 5-85, 6-110, 7-130, 8-131, 9-137. Bowling: Bond 10-0-58-1, Tuffey 16-3-41-4, Oram 12.5-2-41-4, Astle 5-1-13-1. New Zealand (2nd Innings): M Richardson batting 18; L Vincent batting 6 Total (for no loss): 24 Bowling: Zaheer Khan 5-0-12-0, Yohannan 7-3-7-0, Ashish Nehra 3-1-5-0.

Madhya Pradesh cough syrup deaths, Madhya Pradesh children cough syrup deaths, cough syrup deaths, children cough syrup deaths, Madhya Pradesh kids cough syrup deaths, Indian express news, current affairs

Madhya Pradesh: As kids died after taking cough syrup, officials probed in the dark

India1 hr ago

Officials in Madhya Pradesh's Parasia were alarmed by a series of unexplained deaths in young children. After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that a contaminated cough syrup was the cause. This led to a health survey and a ban on the syrup's distribution. Similar incidents in Rajasthan also resulted in a ban on certain cough syrups and medicines.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS