Ravindra Jadeja will begin day two on 16 and will have Umesh Yadav for company with eight runs to his name.
Advertisement
A host of former Test captains including Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were in the crowd to celebrate the milestone match at the start of a packed season of worldwide cricket for India.
“I think we’ve still got to back our instincts and play”. Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner have shared 6 wickets and rest three were equally shared by Ish Sodhi, Mark Craig and Neil Wagner. “Whatever has got you here, you’ve got to back your habits”.
Replays showed it was a clean catch and Rahul, before completing the dismissal, had fumbled a little, letting the ball touch his helmet’s strap.
Hosts India were at 42/1 when Rahul departed.
Somewhat vindicating KL Rahul’s selection over Dhawan, was well backed up by Pujara and Vijay, with both getting to their fifties.
Several hours earlier, the Black Caps were set for a long afternoon after captain Kane Williamson called incorrectly at the toss and India cruised towards 150 halfway through the day with just one wicket down.
Got to take it in my stride and we better in the second innings.The wicket was on the slower side, and so wanted to rotate strike, with their safe field as well.
India were in a strong position at 154 for 1 at one stage before a middle-order collapse saw them reduce to 291 for 9 at stumps on the opening day. The Indians squandered away a solid start courtesy a good partnerhsip between Murali VIjay and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Earlier overnight batsman Jadeja played a useful 42-run cameo for the hosts, who started the day on 291 for nine.
In 23 Tests, the South Africa-born Wagner took 94 wickets at an average of below 30 which is a respectable record in modern-day Test cricket.
Most experts were surprised by the Kiwis’ game-plan to go into the opening Test on a turning track with three spinners and two pacers, rather than take the safer option of including an extra batsman to keep the Indian bowlers at bay. The left-arm spinner bowled with four close-in fielders, to put the visiting batsmen under pressure. Guptill almost perished on the first ball of spin he faced, only for an inside edge to save him from being trapped plumb in front of the stumps. While Vijay completed his 50 in the 40th over, Pujara caught up with him in the next. “But again, when a player knows that he is going through hard times and there are chances that the series can be his last, it is never easy to perform”.
Advertisement
Though Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin stitched together a 52-run partnership for the sixth wicket to arrest the visitor’s momentum, the former’s habit of playing casual strokes at the crease brought his downfall.
