After bowling out India for a record 46 runs on the strength of fast bowlers, with the help of Devon Conway’s 91 runs, New Zealand scored 180 runs for three wickets in the first innings on Thursday, the second day of the rain-interrupted first cricket test. Daryl Mitchell is at the crease after scoring 14 runs and Rachin Ravindra has scored 22 runs. New Zealand has a lead of 134 runs. Earlier, on the basis of excellent bowling by Matt Henry (five wickets for 15 runs) and William O’Rourke (four wickets for 22 runs), New Zealand destroyed the Indian batting.
Bringing back memories of the Adelaide Test, the Indian team was out on its lowest score of 46 runs in the home Test. Earlier, his minimum Test score in India was 75 runs which was made against West Indies in Delhi in 1987. Five Indian batsmen could not even open their account. Australia’s 2020. The Indian team was out for 36 runs in the Adelaide Test on the 21st.
India suffered another blow at the end of the day when Ravindra Jadeja’s turning ball hit his left knee. He had to leave the field. New Zealand got off to a strong start when Conway added 67 runs for the first wicket with captain Tom Latham (15). After this he made a partnership of 75 runs with Will Young (33). Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav gave India the breakthrough when Latham was LBW off his bowling.
Conway completed his half-century in 54 balls by hitting Ravichandran Ashwin for a six over the head. It was commendable to play with concentration for more than a hundred balls on such a pitch. He got bowled while attempting a reverse sweep on Ashwin’s ball. Before Conway’s innings, the second day’s play was in the name of Kiwi bowlers. The first day’s play was canceled due to rain.
When the game resumed after the rain stopped, Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat but none of the Indian batsmen, including the captain, looked comfortable. Rohit was the first batsman to be out who returned to the pavilion after scoring two runs in 15 balls. He missed the ball taking the seam of Tim Southee and the ball went straight to the stump. Matt Henry troubled opener Yashasvi Jaiswal a lot.
Whereas Virat Kohli, who came at number three, could not even open his account after playing nine balls. New Zealand captain Tom Latham handed the ball to O’Rourke and he immediately took the precious wicket of Kohli. Kohli tried to play the bouncing ball but could not catch its length and the ball hit his gloves and went to Glenn Phillips at leg gully. Sarfaraz Khan, who got a place in the playing eleven due to injury to Shubman Gill, could not repeat his form in domestic cricket.He got caught by Devon Conway on the very third ball while trying to play Henry at mid-off.
At this time India’s score was 10 runs for three wickets. Meanwhile 10. Play stopped again due to rain between 27.27 and 11.05. When play resumed, Pant hit the first four of the innings on the fifth ball of the 12th over. He was given life by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell on the score of seven off the bowling of O’Rourke. Jaiswal (13) was caught by O’Rourke at point by Aijaz Patel. KL Rahul (0) was caught by Tim Blundell on the ball of the same bowler. Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed by Henry. India’s score till lunch was 34 runs for six wickets. After lunch, India lost four wickets within 20 minutes and 12 runs.
