46 all out and 180/3!! You’d think that the two teams batted on a different pitch altogether. The conditions definitely eased out, but it was a day to forget for India.
New Zealand would have never dreamt of having a day like this! They had India 46 all out!! Their lowest ever in a home Test and third-lowest for them in Test cricket history. Batters kept coming and going but the Kiwi bowlers did not err away from their impeccable line and length. They found exaggerated movement, both in the air and off the pitch and made the Indian batters dance to their tunes. It didn’t seem like India were playing in Bangalore and looked more like England or New Zealand.
Not one Indian batter looked convincing. Under overcast and dark skies with the floodlights on, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch that was moist and had been under the covers for three days. And right from the first over, the ball hooped around.
Both Tim Southee and Matt Henry were getting prodigious seam movement and beat the bat on multiple occasions in the first five overs. Henry even pinned Rohit on the pads and it looked dead but the umpire ruled it in the Indian skipper’s favour and the review showed it was just clipping the stumps.
But Rohit couldn’t capitalize as Southee knocked over him. The latter got one to nip back in sharply to hit the top of the stumps and it beat Rohit’s attempted drive. In the absence of Shubman Gill who was out of this Test due to a stiff neck, Virat Kohli walked out at No. 3 – for the first time in a Test since 2016.
However, the star batter couldn’t last long either as William O’Rourke got one to kick up off a length and Kohli fended it off his glove to leg-slip where Glenn Phillips took an excellent catch. It was Devon Conway’s turn to take a blinder next as Sarfaraz Khan chipped one to mid-off to give Henry his first scalp.
India were reeling at 10/3 as Rishabh Pant walked in at 5. He tried to shift the pressure back with some shots but New Zealand were supremely consistent throughout. Yashasvi Jaiswal who watched three of his partners walk back to the hut was battling it out. He played a missed a few times but showed good composure but he hit one straight to point where Ajaz Patel took a very good catch. The procession continued when KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were dismissed for ducks in successive overs before lunch.
Things didn’t change in the second session as India lost Ravichandran Ashwin on the first ball after the break. Pant tried to break free but he eventually edged one to slip and soon India found themselves 40/9. Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav played out five overs but added just six runs before Henry wrapped things up and finished with a fifer. As many as five Indian batters registered a duck.
New Zealand make merry with the bat in the sun
When New Zealand came out to bat, the sun peeped out and the conditions eased out a touch. While Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bowled decent spells, they couldn’t have the same impact as their Kiwi counterparts. Devon Conway batted positively as he added 67 runs for the opening stand with skipper Tom Latham. Conway put away the bad balls while Latham was happy to bid his time at the crease.
It was Kuldeep Yadav’s introduction that brought India their first breakthrough as he had Latham LBW. He bowled an incisive spell on either side of tea and beat the bat on multiple occasions. There were a couple of dropped chances in the slips by Rohit while a couple of stumping chances (by Pant) went begging as well.
India were sloppy in the field and just didn’t look switched on. New Zealand made merry as Conway and Will Young added 75 runs for the second wicket. Jadeja started well and created a few chances before he had Young top-edge one to short fine-leg. Ashwin came and knocked over Conway soon after. The latter missed out on a well-deserved ton as he was dismissed for 91.
Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell batted well and saw the Blackcaps safely to stumps. They now sit very comfortably at 180/3.
Touring India is never easy over. India have lost a mere four Test matches since the start of 2013 at home. New Zealand have had five attempts and they’ve lost four of them with one being a nail-biting draw. In fact, New Zealand’s last Test win in India was back in 1988.
However, this is their chance. They are 134 runs ahead and they have the golden opportunity to bat India out of the game and take an early 1-0 lead. On the other hand, India will want to fight back, first with the ball and then with the bat. There is some rain around as well over the next three days and the Rohit Sharma-led side will hope to somehow eke out a draw.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 180/3 (Devon Conway 91, Will Young 33, Ravindra Jadeja 1/28) lead India 46 all out (Rishabh Pant 20, Matt Henry 5/15, William O’Rourke 4/22) by 134 runs.