A mini-session is (normally) half a session, either between the start of the session and the drinks break or the drinks break and the end of the session. Occasionally a long session will have 3 mini-sessions where it will be broken up with 2 drinks breaks.
MS Dhoni said before the match that their aim was to win the most mini-sessions, because the team that does that normally wins the match. His team certainly executed his plan.
| Mini-Session | Score | Winner |
| 1-1a | India 65/1 off 13 | India |
| 1-1b | India 32/1 off 12 | New Zealand |
| 1-2a | India 39/1 off 15 | New Zealand |
| 1-2b | India 46/0 off 14 | India |
| 1-3a | India 75/1 off 16 | India |
| 1-3b | India 50/1 off 17 | draw |
| 2-1a | India 26/0 off 12 | India |
| 2-1b | India 38/0 off 9 | India |
| 2-2a | India 41/2 off 15 | New Zealand |
| 2-2b | India 26/3 off 11.3 | New Zealand |
| 2-3a | New Zealand 39/3 off 14 | India |
| 2-3b | New Zealand 45/1 off 19 | India |
| 2-3c | New Zealand 22/1 off 9 | India |
| 3-1 | New Zealand 53/5 off 19.3 | India |
| 3-2 | New Zealand 41/1 off 18 | India |
| 4-1a | New Zealand 30/0 off 14 | New Zealand |
| 4-1b | New Zealand 21/0 off 11 | draw |
| 4-2a | New Zealand 30/2 off 14 | India |
| 4-2b | New Zealand 24/3 off 16 | India |
| 4-3a | New Zealand 18/4 off 6.5 | India |
Final update here. India win the match by an innings and 115 runs. The win the mini-session count 13-5
Lunch, Day 1: The mini-session count is level at 1-1
New Zealand really missed a trick in the morning session. They dropped Sehwag twice, and left a gap for him to score at 3rd man, allowing him to score 24 of his 47 runs to that spot.
However despite that, the first session was quite even. Boult again looked dangerous. He is turning into a very handy bowler.
Middle drinks, Day 1: NZ lead the mini-session count 2-1
Trent Bould bowled Tendulkar. In his 5 matches, his victims now include Gayle, Kallis, Gambhir, Tendulkar and Michael Hussey. It seems that the better the batsman, the more they struggle with Boult.
Tea, Day 1: The mini-session count is level at 2-2
Kohli and Pujara have put together a great partnership here. New Zealand will want at least one more wicket before the new ball.
Post tea drinks, Day 1: India lead the mini-session count 3-2
Two more dropped catches in that session. The Kohli-Pujara partnership was fantastic. New Zealand will be very frustrated with this match. They have played some good cricket, and yet are behind in the match.
Stumps, Day 1: India lead the mini-session count 3-2
It was a day of missed chances for New Zealand, and yet they are still well in this match. Boult bowled very well, as did Jeetan Patel, although with very little luck. The 4 bowlers who took wickets all had at least one catch dropped off their bowling, so all can feel a little unlucky.
The star of the day, however is Cheteshwar Pujara. His 119* so far has been head and shoulders ahead of any of the other Indian batsmen. It wasn't quite chanceless, but the one half chance that he did offer up was still after he'd scored more than anyone else managed.
Tomorrow there is likely to be some good cloud cover, which, when combined with a two paced pitch, should make for tricky batting conditions.
Tea, Day 2: India lead the mini-session count 5-4
Due to my TV dying, I've been unable to watch much of this day, but Kruger van Wyk seems to have pulled off one of the stumpings that he made his name with. The partnership between Dhoni and Pujara threatened to take the game away from New Zealand, but in the end 438 is a fair score, but not much more. In the last 6 first class matches at this ground, at least one of the first innings have scored more than 400, so it's about what would be expected.
How the New Zealand batsmen go about building their innings now that Hesson is in charge will be interesting.
Stumps, Day 3: India lead the mini-session count 10-4
New Zealand are in a lot of trouble.
While India are dominating the match, I don't think that the difference between the teams has been quite as great as the scorecard would indicate. There have been number of 50-50 decisions by the umpires, and only one of them has gone to New Zealand's favour. India have also had the luxury of having a lot of men round the bat. It's a luxury that their batsmen purchased for them.
Ashwin and Ojha really made the most of the advantage that their batsmen gave them, and looked more dangerous than I've seen either of them before. Ashwin bowled one of the best deliveries I've seen to Chirs Martin. That was really a waste, as he could have probably gotten out Martin without needing such a good delivery. He should really have saved his best for when he's bowling to someone who is good against spin, like Misbah-ul-Haq or Darren Bravo.
First drinks, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 10-5
Good work from McCullum and Williamson. McCullum has really gone into his shell here. He has quite a poor record when he defends. In innings where he has a strike rate of less than 45 he's never scored a 50. In his career he's only batted more than 150 balls 8 times, so to face 92 balls for only 31 runs is certainly not batting according to his normal script. If these two put together a very large partnership it could be the start of a very good period in McCullum's career.
Lunch, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 10-6
McCullum and Williamson are still there, and have batted through the entire session. Realistically they need to bat for another session before New Zealand start to look even marginally likely to draw the match.
Second session drinks, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 11-5
The umpire strikes back. Brendan McCullum was out bat before wicket, then Ross Taylor left one that bowled him. Still, the Indian bowlers put a lot of pressure on the batsmen, and created the situation where the umpire had to make a decision.
Williamson is still looking solid. This is the 7th time he has faced more than 100 deliveries, in only his 27th innings.
Tea, Day 4: India lead the mini-session count 12-5.
Ashwin and Ohja have continued to weave a web of mystery over the New Zealand lower order. Dhoni made a fantastic change bringing in Raina for an over to Williamson. The lack of overspin seemed to unsettle him. The next over Ojha came back in and got out Williamson immediately.
End of match: India win the mini-session count 13-5
A complete thrashing. New Zealand went from 98/1 to 164 all out. 9 wickets for 66 runs. The innings was typified by the dismissal of Doug Bracewell. He was beaten by a good ball, edged it. The catch was grounded by Kohli, but Bracewell didn't notice, and walked off in a hurry. If he had stayed around, he might have been given not out, but he had given up. Ashwin and Ojha were too good, and New Zealand were awful, despite good, fighting knocks from Guptill, McCullum and Williamson.
New Zealand will need to make an enormous improvement in order to level up the series in the second match.
Guess India would be well ahead on the count had the batsman not gifted the wickets. 3/5 wickets were gifted to NZ. But yeah, NZ trailing by just a little. Can easily come back considering India's inexperienced bowling attack.
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