Virat Kohli sparks Indian revival

BANGALORE: Virat Kohli is a mere 10 Tests old but with each innings he's indeed looking the part. He had to wage a fight on two fronts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday – tackle a relentless New Zealand pace attack and defuse a tense situation.
He handled both fronts with aplomb, taming the bowling with the perfect mixture of attack and defence while also retrieving the situation for India as day two of the second Test ended with the hosts on 283 for five, 82 runs short of New Zealand's 365.
Kohli himself was unbeaten on a classy 93 (262m, 174b, 12x4, 1x6), skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni giving him company with a solid 46 (135m, 70b, 5x4, 2x6).
New Zealand must be kicking themselves for two shortcomings they laid bare in the match. In the morning, by being dismissed for the addition of 37 runs to the overnight total of 328 for 6, they showed that unlike the Kiwi bird, which has no tail, their team had a long one.
Then with the Indians down at 80 for 4 – Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar back in the hut along with last Test centurion Cheteshwar Pujara – they just couldn't shut the hosts out much to the delight of the 20,000-odd people.
The Indians, especially Ojha, who ended with his third five wicket haul in Tests and later dedicated it to VVS Laxman, too weren't complaining but the early closure to the Kiwi innings also helped their bowlers to an extent as they used the cloud cover to the hilt.
Trent Boult, easily the most unfortunate bowler on the day, could have had both openers Gambhir and Sehwag in the first over itself as he combined pace with ample movement.
Southee, who shared the new ball, was equally impressive and he was the first to strike, castling Gambhir as he shouldered arms.
Having taken India to lunch along with a sedate Tendulkar, Sehwag did seem set for a big one when he too was trapped on the onside, a drive in the air being pouched by Daniel Flynn, stationed between midwicket and square for just such a shot.
When Doug Bracewell stuck again the following over, getting through the gap left by Tendulkar, the Kiwis were on top.
That's when India's young guns got together. Suresh Raina, under some pressure to seal the number six spot, did his case no harm with a well-compiled 55 (90b, 9x4, 1x6) as he raised a crucial 99 with Kohli for the fifth wicket.