Taylor-made counterattack

The leather made up its mind after pitching on its seam and holding its line,for Taylor ended up doing neither. The lack of turn,the rubbery bounce and ‘swing’ from a spinner shortly before lunch on Day One threw much light on the conditions in Bangalore,despite there not being any.

With the sun shying away behind a veil of clouds,the tower-lamps bathed the grassy pitch of the Chinnaswamy in a strange stream of unnatural light. In these Dickensian surroundings,Ashwin decided to tease the half-Samoan once again with his next ball. Only this time,Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor — a man with a long name and longer reputation — had made up his mind well quite early.

Confusion swept aside

Slender left boot crossed across and right knee bent in proposal position,before Taylor air-lifted the ball from back of length outside off to back of east stand — outside deep square leg. The total rolled from 77 to 83,for the loss of two; Taylor’s personal score shifted from seven to 13,for the loss of confusion. And just like that,he had found the answer to deal with the Indian threat — no half-measures,no soft decisions,just positive intent.

From there on,he was dedicated to this cause of counterattacking cricket,despite being caught in an enticing game of ‘Who Dares Wins’ with the Indian spinners.

Reading the ball from curling hands,Taylor dared often. With that beloved sweep of Taylor’s flashing its arc in the open,Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha backed themselves to turn a full one sharp and trap him. But as they bowled fuller,Taylor drove with conviction. If the ball drifted down leg,he flicked with control. And if there was any width outside off,he threw wood at it clumsily,yet clearing the infield easily.

The new mantra worked like a blessing. For a man with a total of nine runs in the disastrous first Test,this mantra helped clinch not just his first hundred on Indian soil,but also his first in 13 innings.

Hope rekindled

The knock of 113 therein severely helped inject the drug of hope in this deflated Kiwi side — amplifying their total to 328 for six by the end of this rain-jacketed first day.

That score,believe it or not,happens to be five runs more than what 20 New Zealand batsmen managed to put together in Hyderabad. The defeated visitors needed a day like this,and their main-man — far from in form before Friday — gave it to them.

Not long after that six,five balls to be precise,New Zealand lost their heroic opener in Martin Guptill,a man who had been attacking from the word go. But now,there was room for just one man to put it all on the line. And Taylor filled that space like ether. As Daniel Flynn — the awkwardly stanced southpaw who whistles in the beginning of New Zealand’s long and flimsy lower order — joined him,Taylor came into his own instead.

The 33rd over,was the first of many examples why.

He leaned into Ojha’s opening ball,a length delivery,and drove it like a man in-charge to the cover boundary. The ball got fuller,but Taylor was in the mood to mix things up. He swept it boldly to the deep fine fence. Ojha went wider of off,Taylor revelled in the width,clubbing it over point for four. Ojha dumped it short,but the bat spooned it overs covers for his fifty. Off 46 balls.

Trigger-happy Ross

Zaheer Khan,just like Ojha,would soon regret having this trigger-happy man on strike. Sick of bowling away shaping balls that he would leave,Zaheer brought one back in. A tad fuller. Taylor bent his knees and thumped it through a packed off-side field. Zaheer moved it away next ball,but raging Ross punched it back on the rise,reminiscent of the man who fetched it from the straight boundary — Sachin Tendulkar. Eighty seven had been reached with 14 fours and a six. The Kiwis had found their wings.

The seventh Test ton was achieved with two smoking cuts to the point boundary — first off Umesh Yadav,and then Ojha. The left-arm spinner would have his man 13 runs later — trapped lbw while sweeping a very full one — but not before Taylor ended the way he started. Beaten by an Ojha straighter one,Taylor dumped him over long-off for maximum. And then content,he was gone.