Needed early wickets to win the match: Vettori

Forced to settle for a draw after dominating the second cricket Test for the first three days, a dejected New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said the result could have gone in his team’s favour had they been able to take a couple of early Indian wickets on Monday.

Forced to settle for a draw after dominating the second cricket Test for the first three days, a dejected New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said the result could have gone in his team’s favour had they been able to take a couple of early Indian wickets on Monday.

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New Zealand enforced follow on but India showed great resilience to bat out the remainder of the match to force a draw. Vettori felt things could have been different if his bowlers could make early inroads on Monday.

“We needed a couple of early wickets and I suppose when we got (Gautam) Gambhir and the third new ball came along there was another opportunity but Yuvraj (Singh) and (VVS) Laxman saw India through that period and once it was gone it was probably out of our reach,” Vettori explained.

Asked if he would consider a missed opportunity to level the three-match series which India lead 1-0, Vettori said, “It’s hard to say. The amount of pressure that we put India under was fantastic. The wicket was too good in the second innings and India decided to bat a lot more conservatively than they did in the first innings.”

Vettori felt it still was a good performance by the Kiwis.