By IANS,
Wellington : India’s Rahul Dravid grabbed the world record for most catches by a fielder when he went diving to his left at third slip to dismiss Tim McIntosh to leave New Zealand at 37 for one at lunch on the fourth day, chasing an improbable 617 to win the third cricket Test here Monday.
India, 531 ahead overnight, declared 75 minutes into a morning session, extended by 30 minutes to make up for the 8.1 overs lost Sunday owing to bad light.
At the break, Martin Guptill was on 29 and Daniel Flynn four with the hosts still needing 580 runs to win.
Resuming on 349 for five, India rattled another 85 runs in 18.1 overs to bat the hosts out of the contest before captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni called off the innings after he got to 56, his 16th 50, with Zaheer Khan on 18.
Zaheer then helped Dravid come up with his 182nd catch in his 134th Test with a beauty that McIntosh (4) couldn’t avoid edging. Australian Mark Waugh held the previous record.
Dravid, who caught up with Waugh when he snapped up Martin in the New Zealand first innings of the first Test at Hamilton, had opportunities to have the record all for himself but dropped a couple of difficult catches.
Waugh got his his 181 catches from 128 Tests in a career spanning 11 years (1991-2002).
Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh got into business straightaway on resumption this morning.
Yuvraj picked on medium-pacer Iain O’Brien, hitting him for three fours and a six in one over and he raced to 40 from 46 balls before being caught at first slip by Ross Taylor off Chris Martin.
Three balls later, Martin had Harbhajan Singh top-edging a pull to Tim Southee who at fine leg juggled with the ball before finally catching it.
Martin claimed three for 70 for a match analysis of seven for 168 and joined Danny Morrison in fourth highest New Zealand wicket taker behind Sir Richard Hadlee (431), Daniel Vettori (292) and Chris Cairns (218).
Dhoni, 16 overnight, reached his fifty off 77 balls with seven fours.