IND vs NZ 2nd Test Day 1 Report: Tom Latham won the toss in Pune and happily elected to bat first, something Rohit Sharma said he also would have done had he won the toss considering the pitch was a slow turner and would only get worse for batting as the game progresses.
Washington Sundar, who was roped into the squad after the Bengaluru loss, starred for India on this return to Test cricket after three years with a seven-wicket haul to keep the hosts afloat in the series. India, though, lost Rohit Sharma early in their innings.
IND vs NZ 2nd Test Day 1 Report:
New Zealand had a brisk start as Devon Conway and Tom Latham earned 30 runs in the first 7 overs bowled by Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep. However, their stand was broken by R Ashwin on the fifth ball bowled by the off-spinner as he trapped Latham lbw with a delivery that turned from good length.
Rohit brought on the other off-spinner in the side, Washington Sundar, in the attack too, and, despite having not played Test cricket for over three years, Sundar was able to bowl tight lines and lengths.
Conway and Will Young formed a second-wicket partnership of 44 (97), which was broken by Ashwin as Pant took a good grab down the leg side off Young’s thin inside edge.
Conway looked solid once again and seemed to be moving towards a century that he had missed by only 9 runs in Bengaluru, but Ashwin struck once again after lunch, finding the left-hander’s outside edge. Conway departed for a well-made 76.
Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand’s centurion from the previous Test, once again proved to be a thorn in India’s flesh as he creamed a half-century, but this time, with the pitch offering turn, couldn’t convert it into a three-figure score. Rachin was steady in the initial part of his innings as he assessed the surface before tonking Jadeja for a six and Akash Deep for four fours as he motored to his fifty.
As New Zealand just seemed to inch ahead, Sundar got his side right back in it with lovely off-spin bowling. He bowled Rachin with a beautiful flighted ball on length that beat the left-handers front-foot defense and hit the off-stump. He then knocked into Tom Blundell’s middle stump with another classical off-spinner’s dismissal: pitching outside off, dragging the right-hander wide, and crashing through the bat-pad gap.
These two wickets in 10 minutes before Tea, and soon after that, he had Daryl Mitchell lbw, making it three wickets in three overs for the youngster.
Also Read: IND vs NZ 2nd Test Day 1 Highlights
Sundar had got the cream of New Zealand’s batting, and now it was time to wipe the rest of the plate as he chipped with the rest of the wickets too, finishing with a seven-wicket haul. It was simply sensational, and quite surprising as well, from a player who wasn’t even picked in the original squad.
Phillips mis-hit his slog to long-off, while the next three dismissals were all bowled: Southee was beaten on the outside edge; Ajaz Patel inside-edged on the stumps; and Santner, like Rachin, bowled after being squared up. Sundar’s seven wickets forced a collapse in the Kiwi batting lineup as they went from 197/3 to 259 all out!
India didn’t start their innings well as captain Rohit was bowled by a peach from Southee for a duck. The ball came in, pitched on the good length, and moved away just a little to beat Rohit’s defense and crash into the off-stump. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill survived the last few overs of the day to take India to stumps with the score of 16/1.
India know they need to bat big in their first innings here because chasing anything over 100 runs in the fourth innings on this Pune pitch will be extremely tricky and difficult.
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