Gautam Gambhir’s match-saving 137 in the second Test against New Zealand on Monday earned him rich accolades from stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag who likened the belligerent left-hander to Rahul Dravid and dubbed him the “second wall” of Indian cricket.

Otherwise an aggressive batsman, Gambhir batted for nearly 11 hours over three days to bail India out after the visitors were made to follow on in the match.

Sehwag said Gambhir has proved that he has developed his game and was capable of saving matches like Dravid, who has earned the reputation of being ‘The Wall’ for his unconquerable defence and patience.

“He (Gambhir) is developing his game. He curbed his aggression and is learning with experience. He has become the second wall of Indian cricket,” Sehwag, who stood in for injured MS Dhoni in the match, said after India forced a draw.

“We didn’t bat well in the first innings but we did well in the second, especially Gautam and (VVS) Laxman. Gautam batted for nearly 11 hours and saved the match,” Sehwag added.

Sehwag admitted his bowlers had to toil hard in New Zealand’s first innings as the track did not give any assistance to them.

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India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who skipped the second Test against New Zealand with a back injury, will undergo a fitness Test on Wednesday to assess his chances of playing the third and final match in Wellington.

Virender Sehwag, who led the team in Dhoni’s absence, could not confirm Dhoni’s participation in the final Test starting on Friday.

Dhoni took part in the team practice ahead of the second Test before pulling out due to the injury and Sehwag, though tipped off the previous night, was asked to lead the side barely hours before the toss took place. Sehwag was in fact wearing Dhoni’s blazer when he went out for the toss of coin.

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“There is no Knight Riders without Dada”, asserted team owner Shah Rukh Khan while rubbishing speculation that Sourav Ganguly was being sidelined by coach John Buchanan’s idea to have multiple captains for the Indian Premier League second season.

Shah Rukh said the team’s decision to have multiple captains was in no way meant to sideline the team’s icon player Ganguly, who has hardly minced words in ridiculing the concept.

According to the idea put forth by Buchanan, Ganguly will have to share the captaincy with three others — New Zealand Brendon McCullum, West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

“We are a team and no decision is taken by one person. Twenty20 is a new format and new things are being tried. Too much has been said, we are not having four captains in one match. It’s going to be one captain in one match,” he said. “But in case something goes wrong, we need to have a back-up,” he added.

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New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram says he will pull out of the Indian Premier League if a nagging Achilles tendon strain prevents him from playing the domestic State Championship final on April 6.

Oram, who represents Chennai Super Kings in the cash-rich league, denied suggestions that he was trying to save himself for the Twenty20 event by not playing in the ongoing Test series against India which the Kiwis trail 0-1.

“I can understand people thinking I’m cotton-wooling myself but I’ll definitely take myself out (of the IPL) if I don’t get through the final,” Oram told The Dominion Post.

Apart from the India series, the injury has forced him to withdraw from the Central Districts’ domestic four-day match against Auckland.

But the imposing all-rounder said he was hopeful of being fit for the State Championship final against the same side at Lincoln, outside Christchurch.

Oram has a USD 675,000 contract with the Chennai Super Kings, who will open the second edition of the IPL against the Mumbai Indians in Cape Town on April 18.

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Indian batsman VVS Laxman returned to the top-20 of the ICC Rankings, up six places to 15th in the latest list, after playing on the match-saving hundred against the Kiwis in second test at Napier.

In the rankings for Test bowlers, Indian pacer Ishant Sharma’s 3-95 in the drawn match helped him leapfrog Jacques Kallis of South Africa, Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria and England’s Monty Panesar to a career-best 17th spot.

After his excellent performances with the bat, Laxman jumped six places to put himself in 15th position, just behind Sachin Tendulkar, who contributed 49 and 64 in the match, the ICC said in a statement.

Opener Gautam Gambhir was the highest-ranked India batsman in fifth place and his knock of 137 in the second innings has not only strengthened his current position but has put him within striking distance of fourth-placed Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka.

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• VVS Laxman (76 & 124 not out) is the second Indian batsman to aggregate 200 runs in a Test match in New Zealand.  Rahul Dravid had posted 293 (190 & 103 not out) in the 1998-99 Hamilton Test.

• Laxman (124 not out off 212 balls) posted his highest ever score against New Zealand, surpassing his 104 not out at Mohali in 2003-04.

• Laxman’s second century against New Zealand is his 14th in Tests.

• Laxman (76 & 124 not out) has recorded two innings of seventy five-plus in a Test match against New Zealand for the first time.

• Laxman has now posted fifty-plus in each innings of a Test on seven occasions – four times at home and thee times on foreign soil.

• Laxman’s tally of 200 in the Napier Test is the second best at McLean Park. West Indian, Chris Gayle had made 231 (34 & 197) in 2008-09.

• The just concluded Test is now the second drawn game between the two countries. The first ever Napier Test between India and New Zealand, played in February 1990, was also a drawn game.

• New Zealand have never won a Test at McLean Park, Napier. They have lost two Tests at this venue while the remaining six could not produce results.

• Of the 20 Tests played between the two countries in New Zealand, eight have failed to produce results. India have won five and lost seven.

• For the first time, New Zealand could not record a victory in a Test in New Zealand after enforcing a follow-on. The previous seven games in New Zealand, after enforcing the follow on, were won by New Zealand.

• India (476 for four) registered their first ever total of 400 in the second innings against New Zealand in New Zealand. India, with 305 & 476 for four, have posted 300-plus in each innings of a Test match for the first time.

• Jesse Ryder has been adjudged the Man of the match for the first time in Tests.

• Gautam Gambhir batted for 642 minutes in the second innings of the Napier Test, which is the longest Test innings of his career. He had taken 550 minutes at Feroz Shah Kotla to post his first double century against Australia last year.

• Gambhir’s knock is the longest innings by an Indian batsman against New Zealand and the eight longest by any batsman against New Zealand.

• Yuvraj’s first fifty against New Zealand is his sixth in Tests.

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The Napier Test ended in a draw as India ended their second innings with 476/4 on the final day. The duo of Laxman and Yuvraj saw off the tumultuous weather to retain the visitors’ 1-0 lead over New Zealand in the three tests.

It was a Test that would be most remembered for the follow-on inflicted on the famed Indian batting with the Kiwis sounding the danger bells heading into the last match of the series.

New Zealand have found new heroes in the course of the Test in the double centurion Jesse Ryder and an equally potent Ross Taylor.

Laxman looked in his old class and notched up a fine fifty in the process. The morning had belonged to Gautam Gambhir whose grit paved way for India’s fightback after the enforcement of the follow-on. He was claimed by Jeetan Patel at a score of 137 runs after a momentary lapse of concentration after facing a whopping 436 balls.

India had put on a valiant resistance in post-lunch session, taking the scoreboard to 397 runs for four wickets at tea time.

Sachin Tendulkar also came in handy with a cautious 64 to save grace for the visitors after the first innings fiasco. He was done-in by a wily cherry by Chris Martin, but after his partnership with Gambhir had yielded ripe results.

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Roelof van der Merwe and captain Johan Botha took South Africa to a series-clinching 17-run win in the second Twenty20 International against Australia at Centurion Park on Sunday.

Van der Merwe hit 48 off 30 balls as South Africa struggled to 156 for five after being sent in. Then Botha produced a miserly spell of off-spin bowling, taking two for 16 in four overs, as Australia were restricted to 139 for eight.

Van der Merwe, selected mainly as a slow left-arm bowler, was surprisingly sent in at number five and initially he struggled to find his timing.

But he chanced his arm and slammed four sixes and two fours, with two sixes and both fours coming in one over from Nathan Bracken, usually one of the world’s most economical bowlers in limited overs cricket.

The Australian bowlers varied their pace and lengths skillfully and the South African batsmen were unable to maintain a consistently quick scoring rate.

Australia made a good start, with Michael Clarke and David Warner putting on 37 for the first wicket.

But Warner was bowled by Albie Morkel and one run later Australian captain Ricky Ponting was caught behind off left-arm pace bowler Yusuf Abdulla, a second new player in the South African line-up.

Clarke and David Hussey put on 25 for the third wicket before the game changed dramatically when Clarke was bowled by Botha and Callum Ferguson was run out first ball.

Botha’s teasing spin prevented the Australians from recovering their momentum and wickets fell as the batsmen went for big shots.

David Hussey followed up his 88 not out in the first match with 27 and threatened to swing the game Australia’s way when he hit Van der Merwe for six and four off successive balls in the 15th over, only to be caught at mid-off off the next delivery.

South Africa made four changes from the side that won the first match in Johannesburg by four wickets on Friday. “The new players have shown they can play at international level and have given the selectors a nice headache,” said Botha about the challenge of selecting a side for the World Twenty20 in England in June.

“Our bowling was pretty good,” said Ponting. “But you need batting partnerships and that’s where we fell short.”

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England beat West Indies by nine wickets under the Duckworth Lewis method in the fourth one-day international at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Sunday.

ScoreBoard:

West Indies innings:
C. Gayle c Prior b Broad                 46
L. Simmons run out                         29
R. Sarwan b Flintoff                         6
S. Chanderpaul c Prior b Mascarenhas      27
D. Ramdin c Flintoff b Mascarenhas        26
D. Bravo c sub b Broad                    69
K. Pollard c Flintoff b Mascarenhas        0
D. Sammy b Broad                           6
N. Miller not out                         10
F. Edwards c Collingwood b Anderson        0
L. Baker not out                          11
Extras (w-7, nb-2)                         9

Total (nine wickets; 50 overs)           239

Fall of wickets: 1-72 2-76 3-83 4-126 5-143 6-145 7-173
8-224 9-225

Bowling: J. Anderson 10-1-41-1, S. Broad 10-0-62-3 (1-nb),
A. Flintoff 9-0-58-1 (1-nb), S. Harmison 8-0-42-0, D.
Mascarenhas 10-1-26-3, K. Pietersen 0.5-0-0-0, O. Shah
1.1-0-6-0, P. Collingwood 1-0-4-0

England innings
A. Strauss not out                        79
R. Bopara c Miller b Pollard              35
M. Prior not out                          14
Extras (lb-3, w-5)                         8
Total (one wicket; 18.3 overs)           136

K. Pietersen, O. Shah, P. Collingwood, A.
Flintoff, D. Mascarenhas, S. Broad, J. Anderson, S. Harmison: Did not bat.
Fall of wicket: 1-108

Bowling: L. Baker 2-0-24-0 (1-w), F. Edwards 3-0-24-0 (2-w)
D. Bravo 3.3-0-22-0 (1-w), D. Sammy 4-0-31-0, K. Pollard
4-0-20-1 (1-w), N. Miller 2-0-12-0

The Five match series has been levelled at 2-2. The Fifth and Final One-Day International is on Friday, April 3rd at Beausejour Cricket Ground, StLucia.

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Gautam Gambhir has taken 398 minutes to complete his hundred, fifth slowest by an Indian in an away Test. Gambhir also became only the third Indian left-hander to complete 2,000 runs in Test cricket after Sourav Ganguly (7,212 runs in 113 Tests) and Ajit Wadekar (2,113 runs in 37 Tests). Gambhir became only the second Indian opener to score a hundred on New Zealand soil after Sunil Gavaskar, who made 116 at Auckland in 1975-76.

Rahul Dravid’s scoring-rate was 28.18(runs per 100 balls) during his innings of 62, the slowest he has batted in an innings of 50 or more. Rahul Dravid has hit a six in Test cricket after 22 months. He had last hit a six against Bangladesh at Dhaka in May 2007. 10 times Dravid has scored at least a fifty in both innings of a Test. He beats Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record of making a fifty-plus score in both innings of a Test on most occasions.

India’s run-rate in the day was 2.27. They scored 205 runs in the 90 overs. India lost only 1 wicket in the full day’s play.

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