Napier, March 28: Before the match, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had talked about the game being all in the mind and that it depended on the players to feed appropriate, even if it was incorrect, information to keep it going. This was in reference to the team preparing in Auckland for a game in Napier.

By the end of the third day’s play in the second Test, the Indians appeared mentally as well as physically down. One wondered if it helped if they told their minds that the side were in a position of strength while the scoreboard read 47/1, following on in the second innings in pursuit of the daunting Kiwi total of 619/9 declared.

It was humiliation for a champion side that had just beaten the hosts by 10 wickets in the first Test. The only difference being the absence of Dhoni in the playing XI owing to a bad back.

India’s seasoned campaigners had themselves to blame as many of their batsmen fell to poor shot selection rather than being dismissed by the bowlers, who were well-supported by alert fielders, unlike their erring Indian counterparts.

The Kiwis were wide awake and caught everything that came their way. The catches of Jesse Ryder to terminate the innings of Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan; and Tim McIntosh’s firm fingers in the slips that closed out V.V.S. Laxman and Yuvraj Singh were top class efforts.

Ryder in fact was everywhere. After scoring a double century to bolster the Kiwi total, he struck at a crucial juncture to get innings top-scorer Rahul Dravid out and then pulled off those eye-popping catches to continue his good run in the game.

Starting the day at 79/3, Tendulkar and Dravid batted confidently. Dravid drove and cut his way to bring up his 55th half-century in Test cricket.

At the other end, Tendulkar did not allow Jeetan Patel to settle down as he whacked him over square leg and then drove him through off for successive boundaries. But the Master was a victim of a momentary lapse in concentration. On 49, he stretched to push Jeetan to cover point but the ball took the edge and Ross Taylor at first slip grabbed the golden chance with both hands.

Dravid was fortunate to have been let off, by home umpire Evan Watkin who was standing in for Billy Doctrove, down with chest infection. The Indian nicked Daniel Vettori to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps but Watkin had called a ‘no-ball.’ Television replays showed it was a legitimate delivery. Dravid was on 55 then.

The Karnataka batsman recovered well to stroke his way to 83 when a change of strategy did him in. Vettori pressed Ryder into the attack and the Wall crumbled, caught behind.

Laxman walked in and unpacked his strokes, most of them straight as an arrow even as the bowlers bent their backs. He soon reached his 38th Test fifty and looked set for more runs when a Chris Martin delivery caught his edge and Tim McIntosh at second slip made no mistake.

Yuvraj chased a harmless delivery from Martin to give McIntosh catching practice while Karthik and Zaheer fell to stunning catches by Ryder as India had no chance to save the follow-on.

True to his style, Virender Sehwag followed on, and got out after missing a wild slog off Jeetan Patel to be trapped leg before. For once, playing their natural game, which the captain insists on, did not work.