VANGIPURAPPU Laxman and Harbhajan Singh bailed India out of a tight situation with a 163-run partnership as the opening Test against New Zealand meandered towards a draw today.
Harbhajan brought up his maiden Test century by lofting New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori over the long-off boundary to bring the sparse crowd for the final day’s action at the Sardar Patel Stadium to their feet.
He then celebrated by mimicking the batting stance of his team mate and scorer of 49-Test centuries Sachin Tendulkar, much to the amusement of the rest of the team, who were seen laughing on the dressing-room balcony.
Harbhajan danced down the wicket to pacer Chris Martin and reverse swept the spinners, to hit 10 fours and three huge sixes in his knock.
Resuming on a precarious 82 for six, Laxman (91) and Harbhajan (110 not out) added 163 runs for the seventh wicket and put paid to any hopes the visitors had of winning the test match.
A fiery spell of fast bowling by Chris Martin had reduced India to 15 for five yesterday, and it required a dogged innings from the dependable Laxman and the unlikely Harbhajan to arrest the collapse.
However, Laxman and Zaheer Khan (0) fell in consecutive deliveries from left-arm spinner Vettori, to dubious leg before decisions by umpire Steve Davis.
Television replays appeared to show that on both occasions the batsmen had managed an inside edge before the ball hit their pad.
The New Zealand bowlers, handicapped by injuries to Hamish Bennett and Jesse Ryder, were unlucky earlier in the day as they found a number of edges only to watch the ball land short of their fielders.
