Last year, during the Test series against South Africa, where the wickets were below par, India shifted from the five-bowler plan in the first Test to four bowlers and an all-rounder in the second.
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Ravindra Jadeja (16) and Umesh Yadav (eight) will return on Friday looking to take India, who went into the match with four bowlers to accommodate an extra batsman, past the 300-run mark.
The hosts were comfortably placed at 154 for 1 at one stage riding on 112-run second wicket stand between Murali Vijay (65) and Cheteshwar Pujara (62) but lost the plot quite dramatically at the fag end of the day.
India-born Sodhi dismissed Vijay just before tea with Watling holding on to another faint edge as New Zealand claimed three important wickets for 80 runs in the second session to halt India’s progress.
“We have got to rethink our shot selection, and come back in the second innings and put up a better show”, said M Vijay.
“The more you’re on the wicket, the more used you are going to get in terms of the surface getting a little harder to bat on maybe”, said Santner.
The India opener felt the team was in good position.
India’s total of 291 for 9 on the first day of the first Test against New Zealand was built on three partnerships that contributed more than 70% of the total.
On 500th Test, the iconic batsman said: “Being part of history, I would like to believe, we have also been able to influence the next generation and leave some mark behind”.
However, Pujara (50) and Vijay (64) hit the occasional boundary, attacking the spinners to keep the scoreboard ticking.
And New Zealand, who have won only two of 31 tests in India, still have to face the twin spin nemesis of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
An encore from Murali Vijay and Cheteswar Pujara have allowed the team to thrive on their 107-run unbeaten partnership. He had begun confidently, slapping Santner to the cover point boundary and then stepping across to hook a good short ball from Wagner to the backward square leg boundary, with a bit of help from a Sodhi fumble on the boundary.
“The wicket is on the slower side and we have plans (against their batsmen), too”, Vijay said.
They were severe when the spinners dropped the ball short. All we’ve got to do now is to put pressure on them while bowling.
Santner says it’s been a satisfying day and after losing the toss they are in a reasonably good position. “So every wicket we got was crucial because they can all take it away from you”.
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But it was also a satisfying situation to reach after the hosts dominated the first three hours of play to be past 150 just one wicket down. “They did start well and we were extremely lucky to have pulled back things at the end of the day’s play”. The highest run-getter in world cricket termed the pitch as a “typical Kanpur wicket”.
