Zaheer Khan broke into a sprint as soon as the first few raindrops landed on the Basin Reserve turf minutes after lunch. With the dark clouds starting to leak,the deadline to take the final two New Zealand wickets had been suddenly advanced. Despite his rapid strides,during which he took off his heavy woollen jumper in one motion,Zaheer could bowl just three deliveries before the umpires called for the covers and headed indoors. The pitch wasnt seen at all after that as the shower turned to sheets of rain,and the figure of 281/8 on the scoreboard remained untouched for the rest of the evening. So did the 1-0 lead that the Indians had secured after their win in the first Test. The rain,and a delayed declaration,may have robbed MS Dhoni and his men of a victory in Wellington but they had done enough to be remembered as an Indian team who had won in a land where the conditions and the gritty local cricketers are always a hurdle for visiting sides. The memories of this Wellington Test will fade away with time,but this batch of Team India will be remembered as the path-breakers who won in New Zealand after 41 years. After dominating the final Test throughout,the rain-curtailed last day must be a little disappointing for India,but this intervention from nature wasnt unexpected. Rain had been forecast for Tuesday,and the Indians had chosen on Monday to play safe rather than gamble on their 1-0 lead irrespective of the threat. Speaking several hours after play was abandoned,the Indian skipper had a broad smile on his face. The historical significance of the series-win helped him get over the missed opportunity in the third Test. But earlier,when umpire Simon Taufel had returned to the pavilion after his final ground inspection,he had stopped for a while to speak to Harbhajan Singh outside the Indian dressing room. The disappointment on Harbhajans face was quite evident. The off-spinner,who had kept the team alive with his antics through the long wicket-less periods,was just a dismissal away from completing a rare fiver away from home. Taufel gauged the bowlers mood and pointed towards an army of fans waiting beyond the barrier for Harbhajan. The spinner smiled,and spent the next 15 minutes signing autographs. In the presentation ceremony that followed,Dhoni was the winning captain,Gautam Gambhir the Man of the Match and Rahul Dravid was honoured for breaking the world record for catches. The runs and wickets charts,too,had been dominated by the visitors Gambhir and Tendulkar were the top two run-getters while Harbhajan Singh with 16 wickets was the most successful bowler. The only regret on a historic day for Indian cricket was the pictures of celebration of players rushing to snatch souvenirs and doing a victory lap with the tri-colour in hand were missing. But there were too many highs over the last 49 days for a watered-down 50th day to overshadow. In the end,Team India were not crying over the missed cherry on the cake because there was enough icing around.
