Catch the live cricket streaming of India vs New Zealand first Test at Kanpur on StarSports.com and Hotstar.
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For New Zealand, pacer Trent Boult and spinner Mitchell Santner picked up three wickets each while Neil Wagner, Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi chipped in with a wicket apiece. That’s the big gamble the New Zealanders have taken, by including five bowlers and two wicket-keepers in BJ Watling and Luke Ronchi, with the latter playing as a batsman.
In the historic 500th Test match for India, Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav were at the crease with 16 and 8 runs, respectively.
The Black Caps did their fair share of celebrating on intriguing first day of the first test against India.
The left-handed batsman hit two fours and then took a single off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner to take India to 300.
Murali Vijay’s 65 was the top score of the innings for India.
Pujara played for the spin, expecting it to turn towards the off-stump but only managed to offer a tame caught and bowled chance to Santner.
Not the cracked pitch, not Rohit and Ashwin’s short-lived 52-run stand for the 6th wicket, not Boult’s stunning 3-wicket spell later in the day either – after they looked doomed with India at 105/1 at lunch, it was New Zealand’s fightback in the second session that promotes this series to a contest.
Batting at six, Rohit Sharma made a fluent 35 but could not fully convince he can replicate his limited-overs success in the longest format. However, rain did not play a part on Day One as we saw nine wickets fall in India’s first innings along with valiant fifties.
Pujara, coming into the match on the back of a first-class double century, looked confident while stroking on both sides of the wicket and used his feet well to work the ball around.
“The pitch is on the slower side, and it’s going to be lower as well, so it’s going to be hard for scoring shots”, he said.
India went to tea at 185/4 and if the second session was shaded by New Zealand then the tourists dominated the third as India crumbled faster than the dusty wicket in Kanpur.
“As a three I think we can be reasonably happy with our performance”, he said. Especially, after they won the toss and batted first. All we have got to do is to play according to the situation. Speaking about the batting failure, Vijay said, “We got out to loose shots as well and wicket was deteriorating as well, so we really got to be patient on this wicket”.
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Other opener Vijay (39 off 88) worked the ball around to keep the scoreboard ticking and giving him company at the break was Pujara (34 off 58), who carried on with his good form in the Duleep Trophy.
