Gambhir 167 powers India to almighty lead

Posted by on Apr 5, 2009 in Cricket

Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir stroked his way to 167 to power India to an almighty second innings lead of 531 by close of play on the third day of the final Test at Wellington. India is at 349 for 5 in about 98 overs in its second innings. It looks likely that the visitors will be batting for another hour tomorrow morning to further dent the morale of the Kiwis.

It was quite an easy day of cricket for India as they were already in the driver’s seat this morning with a lead of 233 and with 9 wickets standing tall.  By lunch, India collected 119 without losing any wicket at all. The post lunch session saw a couple of wickets going down in Rahul Dravid (65) and Sachin Tendulkar, both to Daniel Vettori. However, there was no collapse for the visitors as they sailed to Tea at 269 for 3 with Gambhir moving past 150 in the company of Laxman.

The final session saw Gautam Gambhir missing a well deserved double century, the left hander played onto his stumps having made a strokeful 167 from 257 balls. His wicket was followed by that of VVS Laxman, who made 61 before getting a beauty of a delivery with the second new ball from O’Brien. By close of play, India had Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni warming themselves in the middle on 15 and 16 respectively. Bad light brought an early end to play as expected because the start of play was pushed back by an hour.

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