Cricket: Dravid's innings answers critics

By Richard Boock

HAMILTON - Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid was recently described as a strokeless wonder by critics in his homeland, in which case, heaven help New Zealand if he should try to score a few runs.

He managed to end up with 190 of them yesterday as India fought back in the third Bank of New Zealand test, but along the way convinced most of Hamilton's 4000-strong crowd that he could bat a bit, even if many of his top-order partners did not.

Often bagged in India for his lack of innovation in the one-day game, Dravid was the one batsman who accepted the responsibility of occupying the crease during the tourists' first innings, although it was not until a couple of tailenders decided to stick by him that his value was finally realised.

"I decided that if I got set, I would be the one to put up my hand and bat right through," he said at the end of the day's play. "After the disappointments in Wellington, I was determined to do this."

His chanceless, 488-minute rescue mission included two potential match-saving partnerships, of 144 and 61 with Javagal Srinath and Venkat Prasad respectively, and gave India a second chance at squaring the series, something which seemed fairly unlikely 24 hours before.

Dravid, who resumed on 93 yesterday morning, had to put up with two more of his partners self-destructing at the other end before finding genuine support, but still managed to bring up his third test century in 232 minutes (167 balls) with his 17th boundary. He struck the boundary hoardings another eight times on his way to 150 (in 386 minutes) and added six more fours before being caught at gully off Chris Cairns.

His partnership with Srinath was an eighth-wicket record for India against New Zealand, surpassing the old mark set in 1964-65 by R.G. Nadkarni and F.M. Engineer, his total of 190 was a new record for the highest individual test score at Hamilton (beating Mark Greatbatch's 133 v Pakistan in 1992-93), and it was also his highest test total, after his 148 against South Africa and 103 against Zimbabwe.

Dravid said: "I was a little disappointed to get out so close to a double-century, but you have to be happy when you score that many runs."