New Zealand 148 for four at lunch on day three

Indian spinners dismissed well-set Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor to leave New Zealand struggling at 148 for four at lunch on day three of the first cricket Test here today.

Indian spinners dismissed well-set Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor to leave New Zealand struggling at 148 for four at lunch on day three of the first cricket Test in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

HT Image

Both McCullum (65) and Taylor (56) started confidently and completed their half-centuries before gifting their wickets to the hosts. McCullum's 122-ball knock included nine shots to the fence while Taylor helped himself with five boundaries in his 124-ball stay.

The visitors, who started the day at 69 for two, are still trailing by 339 runs with Jesse Ryder (6) and Kane Williamson (5) at the crease. McCullum and Taylor, the two overnight unbeaten batsmen, negotiated the Indian pacers and spinners well for about 17 overs in the morning session before Harbhajan Singh broke the 104-run third-wicket stand. Taylor played an uppish drive off Harbhajan towards short mid-wicket, where VVS Laxman took a simple catch.

Taylor had cut one off Harbhajan in the previous over for a boundary to notch his fifty and raise the 100-run partnership with McCullum. India spinners took time to get their rhythm but then started to trouble the Kiwi batsmen.

One such delivery by Pragyan Ojha dismissed McCullum, who played some aggressive shots in the opening session. Ojha deceived McCullum's forward defense with a spinning ball and in the process the New Zealander dragged his back-foot out of crease, an opportunity India skipper M S Dhoni encashed by taking off the bails in a flash.

Before getting out, McCullum drove Sreesanth for a four and took a single to complete his 17th Test fifty.

He also slashed hard whenever he got width from Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth.