India safe with Kaif

India’s batsmen put together their best display under Greg Chappell as, led by a confident century from MKaif, they eased past New Zeal...

India’s batsmen put together their best display under Greg Chappell as, led by a confident century from MKaif, they eased past New Zealand’s 278/9 with six wickets and two and a half overs in hand.

That took them to the final of this tri-series, where they again play New Zealand — who will presumably have their best bowlers, Bond and Vettori, back in the team. The decision to rest them is debatable; skipper Fleming’s explanation was that they would be fresh for the final.

The flip side, of course, is that in their absence the Indian batsmen recovered much of the confidence they’d lacked in the past few weeks.

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The best news was the form of Kaif, who gave Chappell further reason to believe in his ability to bat in that position. The interesting bit about Kaif’s batting was the way he paced his innings in sync with the three partnerships he was involved in. With Dravid he laid the foundation for a chase; with Yuvraj and Dhoni he executed the chase itself.

Sehwag also showed he was in some form with a blistering knock and, with Ganguly, set the pace. The fielding was sharper and the Kiwis kept in check till a late-innings lower-order surge. If only they could correct some glaring deficiencies. To begin with, Ganguly’s dismissal, once again off a short ball. Next, Dravid missing the line completely in an attempt to play the cross bat.

Happily, though, these things can be sorted out. Today, India answered all the questions asked of them but they will be aware that the toughest question has been saved up for the final exam.

SCOREBOARD

		• New Zealand: Nathan Astle c Dhoni b Agarkar 11, Stephen Fleming run out 47, Lou Vincent run out 37, Hamish Marshall b Yadav 8, Scott Styris c Sehwag b Nehra 56 Craig Mcmillan b Agarkar 40, Brendon Mccullum c Kaif b Nehra 28, Jacob Oram c Ganguly b Pathan 14, Chris Cairns not out 6, Andre Adams c Agarkar b Pathan 3, Kyle Mills not out 2; Extras (B-1, lb-11, nb-1, W-13) 26; Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 278 Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-83, 3-103, 4-115, 5-202, 6-244,7-266, 8-267, 9-271 Bowling: Ashish Nehra 10-0-57-2, Irfan Pathan 9-0-60-2,Ajit Agarkar 10-1-61-2, J P Yadav 10-1-34-1, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-46-0, Sourav Ganguly 1-0-8-0. India: V Sehwag b Oram 45, S Ganguly c Patel b Mills 19, Kaif not out 102, R Dravid b Styris 39, Yuvraj Singh lbw b Patel 22, M S Dhoni not out 37; Extras (lb-7, W-6, nb-2) 15; Total (for 4 wickets, 47.3 overs) 279 Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-75, 3-176, 4-223. Bowling: Kyle Mills 7-0-35-1, Andre Adams 7.3-0-67-0,Jacob Oram 5-1-22-1, Chris Cairns 3-0-17-0, Jeetan Patel 9-0-60-1, Nathan Astle 7-0-34-0, Scott Styris 9-0-37-1.

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