India vs New Zealand: 1st Test - India marks out of 10

We were wrong. We fully expected this series to be utterly one-sided with India winning every game at a canter. But New Zealand regained the powers to punch above their weight, which had been as absent as Zulqarnain Haider in the recent 4-0 ODI reverse in Bangladesh.

For India, there will be disappointment and even some embarrassment at slipping to 15 for five in their second innings, but also pride in their fightback on the last day through the wonderful partnership between Harbhajan and that master of second innings knocks VVS Laxman.

Gautam Gambhir – 3: Missed a straight one from Ryder in the first innings and then got a duck in the second. Has now scored only 86 runs in his last nine test innings and must be close to getting the axe in favour of Murali Vijay.

Virender Sehwag – 8: A typical blazing hundred in the first innings and a failure in the second courtesy of a crazy run out to continue his poor record in the second innings.

Rahul Dravid – 7: Probably cemented his place for South Africa with a first innings hundred, but then ran out Sehwag in the second innings before tamely departing himself.

Sachin Tendulkar – 6: So the man is mortal after all. Will have been disappointed to fall to the innocuous Patel when well set in the first innings and can judge himself a bit unlucky to have played on to Martin in the second. We wouldn’t be surprised to see normal service resumed with a big Tendulkar hundred in the second test at Hyderabad.

VVS Laxman – 9: For the third test in a row, Laxman produced a second innings masterpiece with India in trouble. It took a shocking umpiring decision to prevent the silky one from registering a hundred but Laxman can console himself with the fact that he had shepherded India to safety by then. Gets extra marks for getting the runs when they really count.

Suresh Raina – 2: A Test to forget for Raina with scores of 3 and 0 and the manner of his dismissals suggest that he has much work to do on his game if he is to succeed away from the subcontinent.

MS Dhoni – 5: Occupied the crease in the second innings after coming in at 15 for five, but looks to be struggling a bit with his batting at the moment. Brilliant stumping of McCullum was one of the highlights of the match.

Harbhajan Singh – 9: Fantastic performance with the bat to score 69 in the first innings and then his maiden test and first-class hundred in the second to suggest that he could be an all-rounder in the making. Will be disappointed with his bowling however and he must be concerned that in his last 11 Tests he has averaged 44.25 with the ball at a strike rate of 90.5. But those worries can wait for another day for the hero of the hour.

Zaheer Khan – 6: The pitch didn’t offer much assistance to India’s premier strike bowler and nor could he find the devastating reverse swing that so unsettled Australia. But he bowled tidily and showed enough to demonstrate that New Zealand’s batsmen will find him hard to handle on a more helpful pitch.

Pragyan Ojha – 6: Ojha may have taken four wickets in the match, but one can’t help but feel that he is a pale imitation of former great Indian spinners. His test bowling average of 40 would seem to confirm this observation.

Sreesanth – 5: Gave his all as usual but the pitch didn’t help him but one wonders if he has the quality needed to be a top test fast bowler.

Where next?

Sachin Tendulkar’s Annus Mirabilis

Is India’s batting future post Sachin, VVS and Dravid brighter than expected?

Heroes: VVS Laxman