Still a good batting pitch: Murali Vijay

AUCKLAND: Murali Vijay must have spent most of Thursday grappling with disappointment: Kane Williamson had offered him a straight-forward catch when he was on 32, and New Zealand were gasping at 72 for three.

The normally safe pair of hands cupped the ball but couldn't hold on to it; Williamson went on to transform the life into a century, and helped his captain launch a sterling fightback. Vijay would be aware that it was the turning point of this game.

On Friday, he got the opportunity to redeem himself: India had also slipped to 10 for three, and were on the verge of imploding. He buckled down and played as watchfully as he could, waiting for the danger to pass.

He survived the testing period, blunting Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Corey Anderson with remarkable equanimity; when a couple of nicks streaked past the slip cordon, he must have felt like a millionaire, ready to go and party.

When New Zealand had to summon their fourth seamer, he must have been even more delighted: Neil Wagner was struggling with his length and Rohit Sharma dispatched him disdainfully to the boundary.

But just after the second nick came the death-ball: bowling from wide of the stumps, Wagner got it to crash past his defence and shatter his citadel. Viijay recoiled in horror to hear his death-knell. "It was a good ball," he conceded, later in the day. "But you just need to get it off the system," he added.

He knows it won't be easy; it's not easy to cope with two disappointments anyway. "I felt I batted well, felt good inside. I just wanted to have a partnership with Rohit. That was the plan. It couldn't go my way."

He believed that the wicket was still good for batting. "It is still good for runs. Hope we can go close to their score and put pressure on them."

He pointed out that the danger was more with the ball, rather than the wicket. "Initially, it tends to swing a bit more. Once it gets older, it's much easier to bat against it," he said.

"The new ball did the trick for both teams. They were obviously swinging the ball better. But we could have played much better. Maybe in the next innings," he remarked.

Vijay denied that India had bowled badly. "We did bowl well, according to plans. But he (Brendon) batted brilliantly. I thought that there were times he could get out, but he carried on and got a biggie. When someone bats like that you can't do much."

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Shweta Pandey

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