Hyderabad, Nov. 14: It was supposed to be Sachin Tendulkar’s day. The focus then turned to hometown hero VVS Laxman but Harbhajan Singh gatecrashed the Sunday party to rock the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as he made batting look like child’s play on Children’s Day.

The spirited sardar rattled an unbeaten 85 off 82 balls which included seven fours and five sixes as he almost single-handedly built an unbroken stand of 69 for the 10th wicket to shake the Kiwi foundation. The third day of the second Test here. The hosts reached 439 for 9 to take a commanding 86-run lead that can be attributed to Harbhajan, given his individual score.

Harbhajan appeared as if he was plugged into the Robbie Williams song, ‘Let Me Entertain You’ as he walked in, swung the bat around to good effect and kept the crowd on their feet. His innings matched the tempo of that song — crash, boom, bang!

Initially, there were some streaky shots but Bhajji soon unpacked the big ones that may have embarrassed others who batted before him. Kiwi pacer Chris Martin tried to sort out the ‘new kid to the crease’ as he directed a barrage of bouncers to throw him off guard but the braveheart survived to fight another time. He took only a little while to regroup though.

Rain robbed 14 minutes of play as it descended during the drinks break at which time India was 355 for 8. Then, it rained runs from Bhajji’s blade. He top-edged a six off Arnel but soon he regained his timing to loft Vettori for successive hits over long-on to accelerate. Later, he swatted Arnel for yet another six to leave the fast bowler frustrated. In came Martin and out he was sent, over long-on. Bhajji was going berserk, just like the 30,000-odd spectators in the stands.

It was also heartening to see Bhajji shield Sreesanth — whom he had slapped post an IPL game — and play big brother as he took most of the strike during their 100-ball association.

Earlier, the hosts began the day with a disappointment — Sachin Tendulkar added only two runs to his overnight score of 11 as he lasted just 18 minutes and 10 balls on Sunday.

When he got out playing an uncharacteristic shot, jumping out to hit Daniel Vettori through the line, only to see Ross Taylor at first slip plucking a catch one could hear a pin drop at the stadium.

Rahul Dravid and Laxman then tuned in to put on 75 for the fourth wicket before the former departed after making 45. The latter hung in though, to raise hopes of a hundred — his superstitious coach, who is entrusted with the responsibility of other arrangements at the stadium, even anchored himself in the south pavilion in anticipation of a century by his ward playing his first Test at home — but Laxman fell 26 short, trapped leg before wicket by Martin.

The Hyderabadi was his usual wristy self though, deftly directing balls to different parts of the boundary at will, but may have been bogged down by impending milestones — he took 28 balls to move from 40 to his half-century despite hitting two boundaries in the process.

Suresh Raina began by hitting Southee for successive boundaries but squandered his wicket attempting a slog off Daniel Vettori. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni too was in a similar frame of mind as he doled out a catch to Brendon McCullum at short cover off his opposite number.

Scoreboard

New Zealand 1st innings 350

India 1st innings (Overnight 178/2)
Gautam Gambhir c Gareth Hopkins b Tim Southee 54, Virender Sehwag b Daniel Vettori 96, Rahul Dravid lbw b Tim Southee 45, Sachin Tendulkar c Ross Taylor b Daniel Vettori 13, V.V.S. Laxman lbw b Chris Martin 74, Suresh Raina c Martin Guptill b Daniel Vettori 20, Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Brendon McCullum b Daniel Vettori 14, Harbhajan Singh batting 85, Zaheer Khan c Brent Arnel b Tim Southee 7, Pragyan Ojha run out 0, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth batting 14.
Extras: (b-4, lb-8, nb-1, w-1) 14
Total (in 134 overs) 436/9
FoW: 1-160, 2-160, 3-184, 4-259, 5-311, 6-326, 7-336, 8-355, 9-367.
Bowling: Chris Martin 29-6-87-1 (nb1), Tim Southee 28-6-95-3 (w1), Brent Arnel 24-5-79-0, Daniel Vettori 45-6-123-4, Kane Williamson 7-0-31-0, Ross Taylor 1-0-9-0.