India win first Test series in New Zealand
Published:Tuesday | April 7, 2009 | 5:53 PM
India achieved their first Test series in New Zealand in 41 years today but in a mood of anticlimax as the third Test ended in a draw.
The visitors won the series one nil after taking the first Test by 10 wickets. The remaining two matches were drawn.
India needed only two New Zealand wickets to win the third test when rain began to fall mid-afternoon and eventually forcing the umpires to call a halt to play an hour from scheduled stumps.
The previous six India tours to New Zealand had failed to secure a Test series win.
New Zealand were 281 for eight in their second innings, still 335 runs behind India after being set a massive 617 to win. They resumed the final day on 167 for four.
Ross Taylor top scored for New Zealand with 107 his fourth test century and second in successive tests. He shared a record 142-run fifth wicket partnership with James Franklin 49, which prolonged New Zealand’s innings until the rain intervened.
Off-spinner Harbhajan singh took four for 59 and completed match figures of seven for 102 to bowl New Zealand to the brink of defeat.