WELLINGTON: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was ruing one dropped catch that cost them a potential series-levelling victory over New Zealand in the second Test that ended in a draw yesterday.
The hosts saved the match courtesy of Brendon McCullum’s triple century - the first by a New Zealander in Test cricket - and his partnerships with BJ Watling and Jimmy Neesham.
It could have been a different story had Virat Kohli held a chance off McCullum when the New Zealand captain was on nine.
He then went on to share a world-record sixth wicket 352-run partnership with Watling to bat his side to safety by stumps on the fourth day.
“That was one of the partnerships that we had to break to get into the lower order batsmen,” Dhoni said of the McCullum-Watling partnership.
“From behind the stumps, you try to figure out how to get him out. You’ll try everything from catching slips to catching covers to deep square leg to deep point. Bowling onto the pads and bowling outside off.
Dhoni also looked enviously at the make-up of New Zealand’s side with two genuine all-rounders in Corey Anderson and Neesham, who took the pressure off their own pace trio of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner.
“It’s good to have cricketers who can bat and bowl, especially in Test matches. Playing on surfaces like this, you may need that fifth bowler. We have not been able to get the kind of all-rounder that some of the other countries have.” REUTERS
