New Zealand will take tea dreaming of a famous win in Ahmedabad after India's top three were dramatically dismissed within five overs, leaving the home side effectively at 30 for 3. The half-hour of mayhem in Motera was in contrast to the morning session, when Kane Williamson's century on Test debut steered New Zealand past 400 and match looked set to meander to a dull draw.
India seemed to have wrested a slim advantage after prising out the final five New Zealand wickets for 42. With Hamish Bennett injured and Jesse Ryder nursing a calf strain, New Zealand's man-for-all-occasions Daniel Vettori would have to share the new ball with Chris Martin, and a typical Sehwag effort could have left India hoping to force a victory.
What unfolded couldn't have been more different. Gautam Gambhir made his third successive second-innings duck, inside-edging an inspired Martin to the keeper. On a pitch that had seemed comatose until then, Martin got the ball to swing in appreciably, forcing the batsmen to play cautiously.
New Zealand's fielding had been abysmal in the first innings - they drop plenty of chances - but substitute Martin Guptill's sublime skills sent back dangerman Sehwag. Rahul Dravid punched the ball towards mid-off, where Guptill threw himself to his left to cut it off, causing confusion among the batsmen. Dravid stopped and sent Sehwag back after taking several paces down the track, and Guptill's reverse-flick while still on his knees was accurate enough for the bowler to run out the stranded Sehwag.
It got even better for New Zealand, as a tentative Dravid poked at a ball that held its line outside off from Martin and feathered it to the keeper. India were 2 for 3, and in trouble in a match they expected to dominate, especially after a commanding first-innings batting performance.
They hadn't anticipated New Zealand's spirited batting performance either. Williamson supported by his captain Vettori, who made a characteristically gritty innings, added 86 in the morning before Williamson fell on the final over before lunch with New Zealand well past 400.
India's chances in the session before that late breakthrough came in the first four overs: Vettori was saved from becoming a lbw victim to Zaheer Khan by an inside-edge in the second over of the day; Williamson nicked just short of third slip in the next from Sreesanth; and Vettori survived another lbw appeal two overs later, when Sreesanth struck him high on the pad.
For the next 100 minutes, it was all New Zealand. Williamson hit a couple of boundaries off Zaheer - a pull behind square and a glance to fine leg three balls later - to move from 93 to 101 and become the eighth New Zealander to make a hundred in his first Test. There were no extravagant theatrics that you might expect from a 20-year-old who had played a fine innings to rescue his team from a tight spot, just a big grin and a wave of the bat towards the dressing room.
Vettori settled down after his initial jitters, mostly nudging the ball around for singles, though there was a punch down the ground for four off Zaheer and a waltz out of the crease to deposit Pragyan Ojha over long-off. He was unbeaten on 41 at lunch, having passed 4000 Test runs, again showcasing how much his batting has developed in the past few years.
India's bowlers were flat on a pitch which was still good for batting. It didn't help that Zaheer, who has been MS Dhoni's go-to bowler, didn't appear to be 100% fit, rarely hitting even 130kmh. The spinners tried but any turn they extracted was so slow that the batsman had plenty of time to adjust.
India wheedled out the last four New Zealand wickets in the hour and a half after lunch to keep alive their slim chances of forcing a result. Vettori fell attempting to cut a ball too close to off, Gareth Hopkins misread an arm ball from Pragyan Ojha before the quicks took a wicket each to close out the innings.
Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo
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