Sehwag, Gambhir make cautious start (Tea report)

HYDERABAD - Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir batted cautiously to reach 62 for no loss at tea on the second day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand here Saturday.

New Zealand were bowled out for 350 in their first innings immediately after lunch with Zaheer Khan (4-69) and Harbjahan Singh (4-76) sharing six wickets between them in the morning session.

Sehwag (29) and Gambhir (28) faced good spell of fast bowling from Chris Martin and Tim Southee, who got good purchase from the wicket. Martin, who took five wickets in the second innings of the Ahmedabad Test, used the short deliveries to good effect. Sehwag at one point had just 2 runs off 23 balls.

Gambhir, who has been out of form, was also hit by a bouncer off Brent Arnel on his chest. The two took their time in the middle before hitting some boundaries.

Earlier, resuming at 258 for four, New Zealand batting crumbled in the first session and the visitors could add only 85 more to their overnight total to reach 341 for nine at lunch.

Zaheer struck with the second new ball and was well complemented by Harbhajan, who finally regained his touch with the ball.

Ahmedabad Test centurion Jesse Ryder (70) held one end strong and was impressive during his 120-ball knock, stroking 10 fours. Ryder is nursing a calf strain which he picked in Ahmedabad, but was the mainstay of New Zealand batting as he added 48 runs off 56 balls to his first day’s score of 22.

He was dismissed by Harbhajan, edging a catch to V.V.S. Laxman at first slip, shortly before lunch.