Cricket: Tail-ender's first century ends Kiwi hopes

A century to Harbhajan Singh restored India's dignity and ensured a draw in the first cricket test against New Zealand which ended last night.

Harbhajan - a bowler batting at No 8 - defied the tourists until after tea on the final day at Sardar Patel Stadium to make 115 in 274 minutes.

It was his first century in 88 tests.

He shared a fighting stand of 163 for the seventh wicket with VVS Laxman after India resumed at a precarious 82 for six, holding an overall lead of only 110 runs and under real pressure to deny New Zealand their third test win on Indian soil since 1955-56.

Harbhajan and Laxman were up to the task on a benign fifth day pitch still offering little encouragement to an under-staffed New Zealand bowling attack which was without the injured Hamish Bennett and Jesse Ryder.

The hosts were finally dismissed for 266 after tea, leaving New Zealand a brief period of batting practice during which opener Tim McIntosh had time to bag a pair for the game.

He was leg-before-wicket without scoring to left-armer Zaheer Khan, who was also his nemesis in his first-innings duck.

When the game came to an early end, New Zealand were 22 for one after 10 overs, with Brendon McCullum on 11 and BJ Watling on two.

The absence of Bennett and Ryder forced skipper Daniel Vettori to rotate an assortment of specialist and part-time spinners as well as pace spearhead Chris Martin, who on Sunday performed beyond the call of duty by taking five for 25 to give the tourists a chance of an causing an upset.

But Martin could not repeat those heroics yesterday as Harbhajan and Laxman guided India to safety with watchful defence and fluent strokeplay.

Most of the fluency came from Harbhajan, whose confidence was high after his then test-best 69 in India's first innings of 487.

He survived a chance on 93 when Martin spilled a return offering to his right, but Harbhajan deserved the letoff after sharing an Indian record seventh wicket stand with Laxman.

They were only parted when Laxman was unfortunate to be adjudged leg before wicket to Vettori before tea when on 91.

Replays clearly showed ball hitting bat first but Australian umpire Steve Davis raised his finger, depriving Laxman of a 17th test century.

The second match of the three-test series starts at Hyderabad on Friday.

- NZPA