Slow first innings cost India a win

What I couldn’t comprehend, though, was the field placing on the final day. New Zealand was never in with a chance of winning at any stage in the match and was obviously not thinking of a chase. But there was hardly any pressure being applied.

I would have surrounded the batsmen a bit more. For instance, when Nathan Astle tentatively played at one from Sachin just an over before lunch, there was no silly point to take the catch. Such misses may have proved costly in the end.

To my mind, though, it was the first innings where India missed a chance to force the issue. If they had scored at a faster clip, maybe things could just have been a bit different. I just felt they did not leave themselves enough time to take 20 wickets. Maybe the sedate approach was prompted because they were playing a Test after 10 months. Their thinking may have been different had they played a Test or two before this, and were they to play the Motera Test all over again, maybe the Indians would be more positive.

There is bound to be some criticism of the spinners but the wicket was such a flat deck their best did not yield any results. Should India have played an extra spinner? I don’t know, for I do not know much about the talent available and so would not like to comment on that.

New Zealand on their part did the right thing by playing Paul Wiseman. I know there has been much talk that Ian Butler should have played, but if you have a close look at the conditions, I think it was a fair decision.

The fact of the matter is, in the absence of Shane Bond the Kiwis lack real pace. That I think will hurt in Mohali. I say this having seen the first Test played at Mohali as a commentator (1994 India v West Indies). The West Indies quicks just bounced out the Indians in that Test. If the wicket is anything like that then New Zealand may have an outside chance.

But if I were in the Indian camp, I would not be too disappointed on the flight to Mohali. For there is one positive aspect to look at: ‘We outplayed the Kiwis’.

Lastly, congratulations are due to Nathan Astle). I wasn’t aware there has been no centurion since the time yours truly scored one in 1976-77. I find that surprising but I’m sure that in the time to come there will be many more who will join this club.

(As told to Chandresh Narayanan)