The opening day of the 500 Test between India and New Zealand at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur witnessed some riveting action, with the hosts holding the upper hand early and then the visitors came back later into the day to knock over the lower-order batsman and leave India placed at 291 for 9 in 90 overs.
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Ajinkya Rahane (18) was the first man to be dismissed post tea as he tried to fend a ball that was pitched way ahead of the stumps, ending up scooping the cherry for a simple catch for the close-in fielder.
The left-handed batsman hit two fours and then took a single off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner to take India to 300.
They brought up their individual fifties in successive overs before Santner separated them by inducing Pujara to pop a return catch to the left-arm spinner.
His move paid off when medium-pacer Neil Wagner claimed Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s scalp, after the risky batsman pulled at a bouncer and was caught at long-leg for nine. The bowler who got his radar on most quickly was Mark Craig, the offspinner in New Zealand’s three-man spin attack for this Test. Craig bowled a testing line, getting the ball to drift and dip.
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Kohli pointed to India’s loss a year ago at the hands of Sri Lanka’s spinners on a raging turner as evidence of his side’s weakness, as they begin their quest to regain the number one world ranking spot.
Santner bagged his second wicket when Pujara misread the spin on a slightly overpitched delivery which did not turn much after pitching.
He accounted for Ravichandran Ashwin (40), who played some crisp drives and Mohammed Shami (0).
Two other spinners, Sodhi and Mark Craig also captured a wicket each. So all we’ve got to do now is go out there and put pressure on them while bowling.
“I think we are in a good position”, he said. “They rotated the strike and kept scoring at a good rate, which is what you want on this wicket”, he said. We really have got to be patient on this wicket.
“It’s an area where we can improve, we have lost a Test match in Sri Lanka because we couldn’t play as well as we would have liked”, Kohli told reporters. “We must get through day by day and go from there”.
“The wicket is on the slower side and we have plans (against their batsmen) too”, Vijay said.
Latham and Williamson looked quite at ease against the spinners who did manage a few leg-before appeals but could not separate them.
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“It was pretty flat to start with, a pretty good batting surface and they did bat well”. “We got out to loose shots as well and the wicket was deteriorating as well”.
