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India began third day of India vs New Zealand, 2nd test day 3 at Wellington in ascendancy and reduced New Zealand to 94-5 before a heroic batting effort from the captain Brendon McCullum deflated the touring bowlers. At the end of day 3 New Zealand were 252 for 5 and the score board looked like this:

Blackholesun says: "Well played New Zealand !

And what a shame for India again. Seems like bowlers are back to their earlier ways. Just look at Johnson, 7 wickets followed by 5 to break the back of the same (more or less) that broked India's back. That is what is called fast bowling. When your bowlers are bowling at 130-135 Km / hr then your line and length needs to be very accurate and you might also need to depend on the pitch to do something

Can't do anything other than waiting for the next day. Hope our bowlers are able to pick up the remaining wickets as soon as possible.
One thing is sure that if this team is going to Australia, we are going to get a big thrashing there."

Rashindu Croos-Dabrera says: "It was refreshing and surprising to see Indians bat so well in their first innings. One thing they got it right, they attacked. That gave them lead and time, which the latter could be the pivotal point in Indians making the victory at last. We ll said that, there is still a big barrier ahead, which could prolong the victory and could even potentially lead to another famous defeat. Dare I must say though, its just one wicket away for Indians coming back, but they will need to make that soon rather than later for their sake and fans sake. Well played though Kiwis to live another day."

Cricketing Stargaer was surprised by the happenings of world cricket, especially the ICC rankings:"What s happening to world cricket? The winter started with South Africa, England & India #1, 2 & 3 in the rankings. England have lost 5-0 to Australia. South Africa are only playing 3 Tests, so can't do any worse than 3-0 and India are making a determined bid to be whitewashed by New Zealand, ranked #8 and a full 35 ranking points behind, which will be a massive rankings hit.

Realistically, India should still win comfortably on the 4th day. New Zealand need to bat nearly through the day and it will only take a single wicket for India to re-establish control. But it is an amazing effort by New Zealand from a lost position and India really are making this hard for themselves."

fair play thinks toss was really crucial, he says: "India is in a good position simply because Dhoni won the lottery on the first day on a green juicy wicket that made even Sharma look like a champion bowler but is wicketless so far in the 2nd innings.

Playing a test match with three specialist bowlers only and the tactics of containing runs in this 2nd innings rather than trying to take wickets is extremely defensive and doesn't really deserve a victory. If India continues with such tactics of trying to pile pressure by going batting heavy and hoping to score big, they will only win overseas sometimes and if they get lucky like this."

Silverbails was obviously angry with Indian bowling effort, as per him: "It looks like this pathetic Indian team are going to do their usual trick of pulling a definite loss from the jaws of a rare overseas victory!! If you drop a player of the sheer grit, determination and class as McCullum twice then you're really asking to get punished, which is exactly what was demonstrated at the Basin today. India don't really look like having the killer instinct in Tests, always letting teams time and again off the hook; having a clear inability to get the tailenders out. This match may go the full distance, depending upon what happens in the first hour of the fourth morning. And, there's even the very real possibility of India losing this one, to go 2 - 0 down. Why persist with Rohit Sharma and Ishant? They should be dropped immediately! ny chance is showing some fighting spirit Dhoni & Co. after quite an abysmal tour? Probably not, but here's hoping...I'm quite expecting a 1 - 0 or a 2- 0 win for the black caps. India should have a look and copy the Aussies." 

Obviously apart from the dropped catches, I believe the fact that we don't have a fourth seam bowling option has come to haunt us! I said this with many other Indian fans before the series started but MSD simply doesn't try to adapt when playing abroad. Even though Jadeja may not have gone for runs & luckily took one wicket, it always will be the seamers who get you the wickets on most of these grounds outside the subcontinent. So when you go in with just three seamers with one who is 35+ in age and they are asked to bowl a lot of overs, they naturally start getting tired & becoming less effective the more they have to bowl when the wicket is not as helpful as it was in the first innings. Very frustrating but just let us hope we get some early wickets in the morning, otherwise the same may emerge as today with NZ building a good lead.