India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 1 Report

The first day of the 2nd test match resulted in a back and forth game as all the strategies were broken because the batsmen, bowlers and even the pitch tried to comeback in the game. Both the teams were not able to get hold of the match on the first day, making the match more interesting for the viewers.

With a convincing victory over the New Zealand team in the first match, India  just needs to win this match to become the No.1 Test Team in the world.

But the start was not as expected.India lost Three early wickets in the morning session and that to of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Murali Vijay. India was struggling against the New Zealand’s bowlers in the initial stage of the match and these three wickets strengthen their hold on this 2nd test match which is also the 250th test match played by India in home conditions.

Both Dhawan (1) and Vijay (9) were seen struggling against the pace bowlers and Matt Henry incredible bowling send them back to the pavilion. The Team Captain Virat Kohli came to the crease and the home crowd had high hopes from him, but, he too struggled against the Kiwis’ bowling attack and became the prey of the in form New Zealand bowler Trent Boult’s swing.

Cheteshwar Pujara (87) and Ajinkya Rahane (77) took the stand and took the Indian innings to a total of 187 runs, it seemed that the Indian innings was back on track but Cheteshwar Pujara misunderstood a Neil Wagner’s delivery and ended up giving an easy catch to Martin Guptill on the first ball of the 70th over. This marked the 90 runs partnership between Pujara and Rahane. After Pujara’s wicket, it was only Ajinkya Rahane who impressed the viewers with his steady innings as Rohit Sharma also seemed in a hurry and lost his wicket to Jeetan Patel with just 2 runs on his name.

Wriddhiman Saha, who smashed a six on the first ball he faced and Ravichandran Ashwin added 30 more runs to the innings but when the innings was finally steadying, Ashwin too went home with just 26 runs.

At Stumps, India scored 239 runs with the loss of 7 wickets, with Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha still at crease.

After the performances of the Indian openers, Kohli and the team selectors may consider Gautam Gambhir for the next match.

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30 September 2016
Rohan Jaitly