To round this off, the Indian bowlers are flat-top victims. They don't have the firepower to take twenty wickets on a docile track as this. That said, it was an off-day for the fielders yesterday, and the after-effects were felt today. Harbhajan was criticised for not trying enough, and may even be suspect in a first-innings scenario. Yet, he took two wickets, which is more than what was achieved by some other bowlers. Patel was out of sorts, with no wicket, going for plenty. Sehwag and Yuvraj, called on to bowl 24 overs, were less than dire. They were missing Amit Mishra, clearly, with the effect that the New Zealand spinners had. This is something that needs to be thought of for the next Test.
The Indians' apparent weakness on green-tops isn't much of an issue, when there are none. They are, however, under a lot of pressure, when trailing by a massive total, and it has showed, even on flat wickets. Sehwag's dismissal is a matter of bad luck, but the same can't be said of Gambhir, who clearly threw his wicket away. Then there was a bizarre decision to send in a night watchman- and they sent in a sitting duck of a tailender.
The Indians, however, still have a good chance of making a comeback, and putting up at least 500. Dravid and Tendulkar are there in the middle, and both are in good form. We don't expect them to play such rash shots as the openers, so a much bigger partnership is expected. They still have Laxman, Yuvraj and Dinesh Karthik, all of whom can use a track like this to get big scores, and while Ishant was laughably inept here, Bhajji and Zaheer can do a lot better. They need to exploit this track fully, rather than let pressure get the better of them.