Harbhajan Singh slams his second successive Test century

HYDERABAD: Feisty off-spinner Harbhajan Singh became the first number eight batsman in Test cricket to slam back-to-back centuries in a match as India took a sizeable lead against New Zealand on the fourth morning of the second Test on Monday.

Scorecard

Harbhajan slammed an unbeaten 111 off 116 balls and his record 105-run partnership for the 10th wicket with S Sreesanth helped the hosts take a first innings lead of 122 before Daniel Vettori castled the number 11 bat to put the brakes on India's innings at 472.

Vettori, who bowled nearly 50 overs, finished with impressive figures of five for 135, while Tim Southee took three for 119.

At lunch, the visitors were trailing by 85 runs. In their second essay,
New Zealand were 37 for no loss, with Tim McIntosh and Brendon McCullum batting on 18 and 15, respectively.

Resuming at an overnight 434 for nine, the duo of Harbhajan, who was unbeaten on 85 at stumps on the third day, and Sreesanth racked up 36 runs in quick time that saw the off-spinner getting to the coveted landmark.

The landmark was touched when Harbhajan tucked off his hips a Tim Southee delivery, in the seventh over of the day.

His teammates in the dressing room spontaneously stood up and the crowd clapped and whistled for the man Rahul Dravid described as the "new Gary Sobers".

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