Kolkata: India’s high-flying batting line-up failed to recover from the early blows dealt by New Zealand’s bowling attack and collapsed to 239 for 7 on the opening day of the second Test at Kolkata on Friday.
Except Cheteshwar Pujara (87) and Ajinkya Rahane (77) no other batsmen came well after captain Virat Kohli opted to bat in Kolkata, hosting India’s 250th home Test.
Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Wriddhiman Saha (14) are stilling batting for the home side when stumps were drawn today after 87th overs due to bad lights. The Kiwis have shown strong resilience after they faced a serious ablow to their team this morning when their regular skipper and top batsman Kane Williamson was dropped from the team due to illness.
Medium pacer Matt Henry was the top wicket taker for the Kiwis who took 3/35 in his 15 overs, while off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who came in as replacement of injured Mark Craig chipped away two wickets. India, who will regain the top spot in ICC rankings if they win the three match-Test series, failed to provide a good start as they lost three batsmen even before reaching 50 runs mark.
Pujara and Rahane fought for the fourth wicket scoring a partnership of 141 runs and it was the only high point for the team. In-form Cheteshwar Pujara scored his third half century in three innings but a lapse in concentration cost him his patient innings of 87 runs from 219 deliveries which included of 17 boundaries.
From a dramatic first session of 46/3, Pujara and Rahane fought back with great determination in the burning heat of the afternoon. The pair stood for three hours and nine minutes but the Kiwis struck back in the final session chipping away for wickets.
Pujara was held on short cover by Martin Guptill. Rohit Sharma (2) however had a bad day on his favourite ground who was dismissed by Patel. For the Kiwis, it was Henry’s day as he picked both Indian openers Shrikhar Dhawan (1) and Murali Vijay (9).
Dhawan, who replaced Rahul, stood only for 10 balls as the scorecard read 1/1 just after two overs. Vijay was also dismissed by a beautiful delivery from the youngster.
Skipper Kohli tried to stabilize the rocking ship with Pujara but was also dismissed by Trent Boult. Kohli got carried away and tried to play T20 like shot outside off and was caught brilliantly by Tom Latham.
Skipper’s dismissal 30 minutes before lunch disturbed India’s plan to stabilize the innings but Pujara and Rahane fought back hard in the second session. Pujara who scored 62 and 78 in the Kanpur test showed the kind of game required for a team that had a bad start.
After getting some seam movement and providing fair amount of bounce in the morning, the pitch began to slow down in the afternoon offering occasional turn. But Pujara and Rahane batted sensibly to restructure the Indian innings. They attacked the loose deliveries fending off the good ones, collecting timely boundaries.
Cheteshwar Pujara was supported by a resolute Rahane who hit 11 boundaries of his 157 delivery stand. Rahane’s innings came to an end when Rahane was trapped LBW by Patel when India was exactly on 200.
At the end of the day, Ashwin played a useful knock of 26 runs which involved four boundaries.