Harbhajan makes his maiden century finally

The first test between India and New Zealand ended in a dramatic draw, India started their innings with Sehwag and Gambhir opening for them but they were to face a threat from Chris Martin who took all the India’s top order batsmen with a shock and ended with a fantastic five wicket haul. New Zealand had started thinking about their victory over the hosts as Martin was going guns and shook over the Indian top order but thanks to Laxman once again with Harbhajan who put up a 163 run stand which held the Indian innings strong and took them out from the jaws of defeat.

Laxman who is known as a match winner also proved that he can be a match saver as well for India while Harbhajan accomplished his personal goal of making his maiden test century on the final day of the test. Laxman once again was left alone with no proper batsman left on the task to save the game but Harbhajan came to the rescue. While Laxman played with a cool head and with some glorious shots and Harbhajan started off in his unorthodox style of batting and saved a couple of times in the early of his innings but the pair carried their calm and India had taken a lead of 192 by lunch. 

When Laxman was into his nineties he was given lbw by Steve Davis missing the huge inside-edge which again brought into question the absence of UDRS in the series. Laxman was shocked to hear the decision which reaction was repeated by Zaheer Khan on the very next ball leaving Vettori on a hat-trick. Now the matter was of Harbhajan’s century but he finished it with a Sehwag-like six over extra cover and moved to 101 from 95 and started celebrating his maiden century with a message from his close friend Sachin Tendulkar.

Harbhajan’s fierce innings came to an end by a miss-hit of Taylor’s high full toss and India ended their innings on 266 soon. When New Zealand came to bat they ended up for 22/1 when match was called a draw.

New Zealand had started hoping for a win with the start of the day but couldn’t break Motera’s jinx of no team chasing a target. However the question that was in the making whether New Zealand can take 20 wickets against the Indian’s was answered even though the match was a draw but New Zealand would be more than satisfied with their performance against the test no.1 team.

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