This Daniel has a steely resolve

KANPUR, OCT 24: Chotey LAL, the curator at the Green Park Stadium here had boasted, with a patriotic fervour, that the pitch would suit t...

KANPUR, OCT 24: Chotey LAL, the curator at the Green Park Stadium here had boasted, with a patriotic fervour, that the pitch would suit the Indian strength spin. 8220;Trust me for that,8221; he had said on the eve of the Test match. Nobody questioned his authority. Nobody deemed it necessary to spare a thought for the rival spinners.

8220;They would be easy meat for our batsmen,8221; the Indians were inclined to say. The Indian spinners played their role to perfection but what about their batsmen? What was supposed to be a child8217;s play turned out to be a nightmare for them. And the one paying the Indians back in the same coin was the bespectaled Kiwi left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori. After going for runs on the second day when the Indian openers were on song, Vettori was not amused. He analysed the pitch, and the mood the Indians were in, to prepare himself for the third day8217;s play.

By evening, an hour after the tea break today, Vettori was coolly sipping tea in the dressing room, looking back at a job well done. Hepicked up his career-best haul of 6 for 127 in a marathon 55-over spell, which helped his team claw their way back into the game. By forcing the Indians to grope around, Vettori achieved what even the great Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne could not.

Sensing the slowness of the pitch, Vettori wisely bowled a bit slower through the air today. The Indian batsman, who were on the lookout for runs, were actually caught off guard. They didn8217;t expect such a turnaround and as the day progressed and the Indian performance dipped, the batsmen became more and more tentative 8212; undecided about whether to attack or defend.Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming had another card up his sleeve: He did not take the second new ball which was due after 80 overs in the entire Indian innings 148.1 overs. A soft ball, slow pitch and Vettori8217;s clever variations became difficult for the Indian batsmen to fathom.

It was poor batting by the Indians but Vettori deserves credit for inflicting such humiliation on the Indians, who are rearedon such pitches.8220;I am very happy with the way he bowled today. We had full faith in him,8221; Fleming said of Vettori. The Indian coach Kapil Dev was equally magnanimous in his praise. 8220;I thought he bowled wonderfully well. It8217;s good to see bowlers coming up trumps sometimes.8221;

Kumble claims 250 victims

Leg-spinner Anil Kumble today became the third Indian bowler to have 250 or more Test wickets in his kitty. His 250th victim was Mathew Horne. It was his 55th Test.

He is the third Indian to achieve the landmark, behind the legendary Kapil Dev 434 and former captain, left-arm spinner Bishen Singh Bedi 266. Kumble8217;s feat has come 12 Tests earlier than Bedi8217;s 67 Tests.

100-run target would be tough8217;

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The New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming feels a 8220;100-run target for India in the fourth innings will not be easy to get8221;. The Indian coach Kapil Dev feels 8220;the Kiwis first need to score 57 runs to make India bat again. That in itself won8217;t be easy.8221;

8220;The wicket will deteriorate.It will get difficult to bat on. We have to apply ourselves and get to a total where we can put pressure on India. We have to bat a majority of tomorrow. Maybe, if Chris Cairns or somebody at the top of the order can play a solid knock tomorrow, we can get there,8221; Fleming said.

Kapil was all praise for Anil Kumble, who brought India closer to victory with his triple-strike at the fag end of the day and entered the 250-Test wickets club. 8220;I asked him to have a go at my record now. He bowled very well and that8217;s what he is capable of. We don8217;t want to chase any target. We will go according to the situation tomorrow. We are very happy with the three wickets we got today. In fact, we wanted to bat till close of play and then declare. But it8217;s good that we have picked up the wickets. We should bowl like this tomorrow too.8221;

Kapil also agreed that India8217;s batting failure today was a mixture of some 8220;poor Indian batting and good Kiwi fielding and bowling.8221;

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8220;Full credit to the way they Kiwis organisedthemselves,8221; he said. As for the pitch, Kapil said: 8220;Though it was not very good to bat on, I still feel the batsmen should have applied themselves better. Wickets like these bring the best out of batsmen.8221;

Fleming was all praise for his bowlers. 8220;We had a bad day yesterday but today we dominated them,8221; he said. 8220;But tomorrow is going to be a different day8230;.8221;