New Zealand’s fast bowlers, led by Matt Henry (5/15) and William O’Rourke (4/22), made the most of the seamer-friendly conditions. From the very start, India’s batters struggled to find rhythm on a surface that offered plenty of assistance to the bowlers. Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal briefly survived the first 30 minutes but were clearly unsettled, and once Rohit was dismissed, the floodgates opened.
Virat Kohli, promoted to No. 3 in the absence of Shubman Gill, and Sarfaraz Khan, batting at No. 4, both fell without scoring. The only resistance came from Jaiswal (13) and Rishabh Pant (20), who managed to reach double digits amidst the carnage. The rest of the lineup crumbled, leaving the scorecard looking bleak.
In the aftermath of the collapse, Rohit Sharma admitted to misjudging the pitch conditions, which influenced India’s decision to play with just two spinners. “We felt there wasn’t grass on the pitch; we thought it would do a bit in the first couple of sessions and then start turning,” Rohit explained in a post-match press conference. “Clearly, it was a misjudgment of the pitch, and we are in this situation today.”
Rohit acknowledged the difficult conditions but also conceded that the Indian batting lineup had failed to execute its plans. “There was help for seamers, and you need to make game plans for that. We’ve been successful on such wickets before, but sometimes you can’t execute what you’re planning. We had a bad day. But we’ve been part of such matches before. It’s a challenge, and you’ve got to challenge yourself,” said the Indian skipper.
With New Zealand firmly in control, India faces an uphill battle to recover in this Test match. The pressure now shifts to India’s bowlers to deliver and give their team any hope of salvaging the game.
A million eyebrows were raised when India chose to bat on the second morning – the entire first day had been washed out. Logic seemed to dictate that with the surface having spent pretty much the whole of the last three days under wraps, there would be assistance, and plenty of it, for the quicker bowlers. If any set of conditions demanded bowling first, it was these.
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