Pacer Neil Wagner exudes confidence

AUCKLAND: New Zealand's Neil Wagner is a skiddy kind of bowler, who can catch the batsman by an extra dash of speed; he has another distinctive trait: he tends to get better as the match progresses.

On Friday morning, when he finally came on as their fourth pacer, he erred on the shorter side and was fittingly punished; but into his third over, bowling from around the wicket and wide of the crease, he stunned M Vijay and his stumps with sharp movement off the pitch.

True to reputation, he came into his own as the nerves cooled down, and picked up three more wickets for a commendable four for 64; on Saturday afternoon, as India chased 407 runs for victory, he came on first change and asked a number of tough questions in six overs.

He is clearly going to be the man India need to watch out for, when the hunt resumes on Sunday, the fourth day. "Yes, it's a bit of a bitter-sweet day. I thought we started off really well with the ball this morning, and a great result to get them out for the score we did," he said.

"The batting really wasn't ideal stuff but at the end of the day, I still think we are pretty happy at where we are at. There are still a lot of runs on the board left to get and if we bowl well, start off well, we can get the nine wickets."

"If we get one in the morning, then maybe two, then we will be in a bit of a roll. The key is to be patient, not go searching too much," he said.

Wagner agreed that they didn't bowl well in the second innings, as India eased to 87 for one. "I don't think we started ideally, like we would have wanted to. But to be fair, every series so far, we have started really well with the ball.

"End of the day, we have two top-class bowlers in Boult and Timmy (Southee). The way they have been performing this whole summer has been outstanding. No doubt tomorrow morning they will come hard," he said.

The 27-year-old denied that there was any heartburn over the decision not to enforce the follow-on. "Everybody was very happy with the decision. It's a bit of a time for the bowlers to freshen up a little, have a quick ice bath and have the legs ready enough for the second innings. It also gave us a little bit of time to get reset and refocus on what we need to do."

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Shweta Pandey

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