India vs New Zealand: Advantage Kiwis On Day One Of India’s Landmark Test
A landmark test match gets India kick started to its long season at home in Kanpur, as India vs New Zealand Test series begins. Things feel perfectly in place with Virat Kohli winning the toss and electing to bat first in the first of the three test matches. The build up to the test match and one of the key points to ponder was how would India play the Kiwi spinners.
The pitch at start was a good one for batting. As the day went on, the ball started to grip and turn on the surface. Every Indian batsmen of the top 7 barring skipper Virat Kohli got starts but failed to make it big. 105 runs in the first session, 80 runs in the second and just over a 100 runs in the third.
This goes to show that slowly but surely the Kiwi bowlers brought their team back in the match in the first day itself. Therefore, at the end of day one, its advantage New Zealand at Kanpur.
Indian batsmen failed to capitalize on good starts
Each of the top seven looked in good touch but also played and missed a few deliveries now and again. Pujara and Vijay shared a 112 run partnership for the third wicket helping India to finish strong after the first session of play. But then three quick wickets in the second session, first Pujara and then Kohli and Vijay kind of opened the floodgates for NZ to cash in which they did in the final session.
Kiwi spinners bamboozled Indian batsmen
Late strikes from Trent Boult in the final session brought back the game. He picked up Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammad Shami to help Kiwi take the day 1 honors. But the real difference on the day was done by the NZ spinners whose persistence and patience bore fruit. They picked up key wickets of the Indian top order.
Mitchell Santner who picked up three wickets was supported very well by Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig who bowled well in tandom and used the pitch and the sides of the wicket well.
That NZ finished the first day on top kept us hinged to know what’s coming up next. It promises to be another fascinating day of test cricket with a good contest between bat and ball on offer.
India vs New Zealand Test: A lot depends on spinners
Hopefully New Zealand will expect to bowl out India as quick as they can tomorrow morning. It will also be interesting to see how do they bat against the Indian spinners. How much of grip and turn do the Indian spinners get and how much can the Indian pacers extract from the wicket is also something which will be interesting to watch.
Therefore a lot to look forward to when live action unfolds tomorrow from Kanpur.
Picture Courtsey: News18