Kanpur, Nov 28: Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and his temporary deputy Cheteshwar Pujara's saga of failures continued as India were put on the mat by New Zealand bowlers, primarily Tim Southee, reducing the hosts to 84 for five at lunch on the fourth day of the opening Test here on Sunday.

First innings centurion Shreyas Iyer (18 not out off 51 balls) and the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin (20 not out off 35 balls) were trying to stem the rot as India's overall lead extended to 133. They have so far added 33 runs for the sixth wicket.

While the pitch is still not an unplayable one, India's spinners might be able to defend anything in the range of 180 as it is expected that a lot of balls will keep low even if there won't be much turn on offer.

However on the fourth morning, Southee, a practitioner of conventional swing bowling, took a master-class on how to bowl on an unresponsive Indian track classically setting up batters.

But before Southee got into the act, Kyle Jamieson (8-3-21-2) targeted Cheteshwar Pujara's (22 off 33 balls) ribcage, getting one to rear up on this dead track and it brushed India no 3's gloves into the hands of keeper Tom Blundell.

Rahane (4 off 15 balls) is out of form and the world knew that. The best way to create pressure was to cut down on singles and for 13 balls, he struggled to get a run.

Then a gorgeous inside out cover drive off Ajaz Patel (9-2-29-1) seemed like helping him break the shackles.

However Patel, who has looked way below Test class, produced his best delivery of the match. An arm ball that was fired in with the angle caught Rahane plumb in-front trying to play a forward defensive prod.

Mayank Agarwal (17) did all the hardwork in the first hour but then Southee (10-2-27-2) set him up with deliveries that came into him from good length spot as he played with a closed bat-face.

Then he pitched on on the same spot only to Agarwal's horror, it shaped slightly away and he had committed to a closed bat face. The result was a regulation catch to Tom Latham in the second slip.

For Ravindra Jadeja (0), Southee used width of the crease with an angular delivery that wrapped him on the pads.

At 51 for five, Ashwin joined Iyer and played some attacking strokes including a straight drive off Southee to calm the tense dressing room.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced two CBI officers to three months' imprisonment for assaulting and trespassing into the residence of an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer during a raid over two decades ago.

Judicial Magistrate Shashank Nandan Bhatt was hearing the arguments on the sentence against the convicted retired police officer V K Pandey and Ramneesh, who was serving as a superintendent of police when the raid was conducted in 2000.

Ramneesh is at present a joint director at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court also fined Rs 50,000 each to both the accused.

Both were accused under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 427 (mischief) and 448 (criminal trespass) in a complaint filed by IRS officer Ashok Kumar Aggarwal.

The case pertained to an incident on October 19, 2000, when a CBI team carried out a search and arrest operation at Aggarwal's residence in Paschim Vihar.

Aggarwal alleged that the officials forcibly entered his house in the early hours, assaulted him and violated legal procedures during the arrest.