da spicy bet： The fact that the hosts, favourites at the start of the series, are battling to stay alive in the Test is an indication of how well New Zealand have overcome the Bangladesh debacle

da bwin： ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2010The last time India were five wickets down for so few in a Test,they were considered the minnows of the game. On that disastrous 1952 tourof England, they slumped to 0 for 4 in the second innings at Headingley.But worse was to follow in the final Test at The Oval, when Alec Bedserand Fred Trueman reduced them to 6 for 5. They escaped with a draw onlybecause poor weather allowed less than 11 hours of play over the fivedays.There are no dark clouds over Motera to provide succour after thepenultimate day of this game and if India are to avoid the embarrassmentof defeat against a side that currently has a similar standing to whatthey did in 1952, inspiration will have to come from someone who was partof a remarkable game here 14 years ago.VVS Laxman, whose languid strokeplay and composure offer the best escaperoute, made his debut in that game, a bizarre affair where South Africatook a 21-run lead and then had India 91 for 5 in the second innings.Laxman made 51 of the 98 added while he was at the crease, and thevisitors were left with 170 to win on the fourth day.On a wearing pitch, Anil Kumble was expected to be India’s most potentweapon, but instead it was Javagal Srinath with his inswingers andoffcutters that caused havoc on a surface with widening cracks. From 96for 4, South Africa slumped to 105 all out.It was hard not to think of Srinath’s spell as Chris Martin, with justeight previous five-fors in 56 Tests, scythed through a vaunted battingline-up either side of tea. Like Srinath, he kept it full and swung theball. But as with the delivery that accounted for Sachin Tendulkar, therewas also movement off the seam. Some of the shots the Indians playedweren’t especially clever, but credit has to go to Martin for creating asiege mentality in the batsmen’s mind without even having pace support atthe other end.Pragyan Ojha’s 4 for 107 earlier in the day had given India the sort ofslender lead that South Africa had back in ’96, but by close of play thefirst session had pretty much been forgotten. “It was a great spell fromMartin,” said Ojha afterwards. “But as we know, Bhajju pa [Harbhajan] canbat, and Laxman is still at the crease. Even when I, Zak pa [Zaheer] orSree [Sreesanth] go out to bat, we’ll definitely look to play as long as we can.”The irony of India scrapping for survival against a team blanked byBangladesh in a one-day series last month wasn’t lost on anyone, but Ojhapreferred to focus on Martin’s spell rather than any inadequacies withinhis own team. “There’s little grass on the wicket,” he said. “He bowledreally good lines and he was bowling up which favoured him. It was badluck for us that we lost so many wickets in a session.”India have collapsed before, most recently in Mohali against Australia,but few of those have been as unexpected as this, against a sidereduced to three regular bowlers as a result of injuries to Hamish Bennett[groin strain] and Jesse Ryder [tightness in the calf]. A game that hadmeandered for three days and a session, with more than 900 runs scored forthe loss of 15 wickets, came alive on the stroke of lunch when debutant KaneWilliamson edged Ojha to slip.Including that dismissal, 10 wickets fell for 59 runs. The fact that thecrocked Bennett and the hapless Martin – who inflated his Test batting average to2.35 with his unbeaten 3 – survived 51 balls between them suggested thatthere certainly weren’t any demons in the pitch, which continued to be onethat offered extremely slow turn and little else. “The couple of ballsthat he got to turn a lot were way outside off stump,” said Ojha whenasked about Daniel Vettori’s bowling. “When he was bowling on the stumps,it wasn’t doing much. That’s what I felt.”That assessment also revealed just how hard it will be for India toconjure up a win on the final day. “We’re confident that even if we get160 or 170, we can make a match of it,” said Ojha, though it was obviousfrom his demeanour and tone that he wasn’t expecting anything like theminefield-drama that saw Australia slide to 93 all out at the WankhedeStadium in 2004.The slow bowlers will be expected to keep the batsmen on a leash and preyon their uncertainties on a dusty surface, but damage will need to be donefirst up, Srinath-style, if India are to get out of jail on the final day.”Any wicket, when the seamers do something with the new ball, it’s a biteasier for the spinners,” said Ojha. “If it’s 40 for 2 or 3 when you comeon to bowl, the batsmen are under pressure. You’re one step ahead ofthem.”For now, India are several steps behind and faltering. As long as Laxmanbats, hope floats. But the very fact that it’s ‘survival’ and ‘escape’that are the buzzwords on Sunday night are indicative of just how much NewZealand have stepped up their game since the misadventure in Bangladesh.Win or lose – a draw is unlikely – they’ll have the satisfaction ofleaving Motera knowing that they gave India a very bloody nose. And in thetwilight of his career, it was the soon-to-be-36 Martin who landedPhantom punches that Ali would have been proud of.