15 November,2010 02:19 PM IST | | Agencies
Brendon McCullum led a strong New Zealand riposte after Harbhajan Singh's second successive century propelled India to a mammoth first innings total of 472 on the fourth day of the second Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here today.
At tea, the visitors, having overcome a deficit of 122 runs, were comfortably placed at 131 for the loss of first-innings centurion Tim McIntosh, who was trapped by Pragyan Ojha when just one short of a half century.
McCullum was unbeaten on 73 off 101 balls while Martin Guptill was giving him company on four.
McCullum and McIntosh started on a positive note and shared an opening stand of 125 to help New Zealand go ahead by nine runs, after Harbhajan became the first number eight batsman in Test cricket to slam back-to-back centuries in a match.
Both batted with ease and displayed great character in dealing with the Indian spinners.
After Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth failed to provide a breakthrough, Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced the spinners but the New Zealand openers, especially McCullum, used their feet well to score some quick runs against Harbhajan and Pragyan Ojha. McCullum sashayed down the ground to loft Harbhajan over his head to signal his intentions.
He then greeted Ojha with another massive six over long-off, which landed on the second tier of the pavilion end, and then swept the bowler to the deep midwicket boundary.
Harbhajan was again at the receiving end of McCullum's onslaught when the batsman smashed him for the maximum over long-off.
Thanks to McCullum's aggressive batting, the session between lunch and tea fetched New Zealand 94 runs in 27 overs.
Earlier in the day, Harbhajan slammed an unbeaten 111 off 116 balls and his record 105-run partnership for the 10th wicket with Sreesanth helped the hosts take a first innings lead of 122 before Daniel Vettori castled the number 11 bat to put the brakes on India's innings.
Vettori, who bowled nearly 50 overs, finished with impressive figures of five for 135, while Tim Southee took three for 119.
Resuming at an overnight 434 for nine, the duo of Harbhajan, who was unbeaten on 85 at stumps on the third day, and Sreesanth racked up 36 runs in quick time that saw the off-spinner getting to the coveted three-figure mark.
The landmark was touched when Harbhajan tucked off his hips a Tim Southee delivery, in the seventh over of the day.
His teammates in the dressing room spontaneously stood up and the crowd clapped and whistled for the man Rahul Dravid described as the "new Gary Sobers".
Harbhajan leaped in joy, looked skywards and waved to the crowd to acknowledge the cheers.
The spinner also thanked his partner who defied the visitors for 115 minutes, which saw him take some blows on the body.
Harbhajan started from where he had left off on Sunday, slamming Vettori for a six straight down the ground.
After reaching his century, he smashed Southee over wide long-on for his seventh six of the innings and second of the day.
The 100-run partnership was up in just 110 minutes and off 149 balls. Harbhajan's hurricane knock contained seven sixes and an equal number of boundaries.
