IND v NZ, 1st Test Day 2 Review: New Zealand gains the upper hand

Day two of the first Test match at Kanpur saw New Zealand take the upper hand with some fantastic batting in the first session of play. In spite of losing Martin Guptill, the Kiwis quickly regrouped and impressed without losing another wicket before lunch. As for the Indians, they added a few additional yet crucial runs for the Indian cause as they took their total ahead of the psychological 300-run mark.

The day began with Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, and Mitchell Santner tasked with the easy task of dislodging the final Indian resistance. However, Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav had other ideas. Jadeja, in particular, faced the Kiwis bowling head-on when he smashed Mitchell Santner straight down the ground in the first ever over.

With the warning signals up, Trent Boult was handed the ball with the plan being of either bang it in short or bowl it straight into the toes of Umesh Yadav. Fortunately for Jadeja and the Indian cricket team, Yadav survived their thunder ‘Boults’ as Ravindra Jadeja’s aggressive approach was paying dividends.

As Jadeja inched closer to his half-century, it seemed clear that the Indians were indeed doing a fantastic job of frustrating the Kiwi bowlers. It took yet another masterstroke from Kane Williamson to put an end to this frustration. Neil Wagner was handed the ball as Umesh Yadav failed to read the shorter delivery from the left-arm pacer. At 318, both sides claimed a strategic victory in the first innings of the test match.

Virat Kohli handed the ball to his pacers who began to wilt under the pressure put on them by Martin Guptill and Tom Latham. While the latter chose to play it safe, the former impressed with some impressive showing of aggression, something that quite literally came naturally to him. With no answers in sight, Ravindra Jadeja was handed the ball early on in the innings.

Also read – India v New Zealand 1st Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

It took a teaspoon of luck to topple Guptill’s wicket as he was dismissed by a rare inswinger from Umesh Yadav. Although it seemed lucky at the time, no DRS system meant that Guptill had to go on his way back to the dressing room.

Kane Williamson and Tom Latham then went about impressing with the bat as they played the patient game, waiting out the opposition until lunch.

As Simon Doull exclaimed at the stroke of tea, this was the only session in the match that a wicket did not fall. However, in spite of the toiling of the Indian spinners, Kane Williamson and Tom Latham toyed with the Indian spinners as Ravi Ashwin and co. failed to find the breakthrough.

With the wicket of Guptill being the only one to fall, Williamson and Tom Latham added a mammoth 117 runs for the first wicket. 80 of these runs came in the second session which saw Williamson and Latham impress with some patience as well as fine strokeplay.

Both batsmen also went on to reach their respective centuries as the Indian spinners were left dumbfounded as to why the wickets did not fall. It would be another session of redrawing of the game plan as Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli would have look at the other options available to them after the tea break.

However, for Anil Kumble and the rest of his team management present, their jobs would be very minimal after the tea break. Shortly before the 15-minute mark to conclude the Teat Break, a massive heave of rain graced the expanse of the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.

Although the Indians were on the receiving end of the same in the Caribbean, a part of the team would be slightly relieved following the momentum the Kiwi batsmen had managed to find themselves in. In spite of the fact that the rains stopped for a substantial amount of time and the fact that the entire outfield was indeed covered,

In spite of the fact that the rains stopped for a substantial amount of time and the fact that the entire outfield was indeed covered, the play was called off at 4pm Indian Standard Time (IST) by umpires Rod Tucker and Richard Kettleborough. This now means that there will be an endeavour to bowl 98 overs on Day 3 in a bid to compensate for the time lost today.

India, 1st innings: 318 all out (M Vijay 65; T Boult 3/67)

New Zealand, 1st innings: 152/1 (K Williamson 66*; U Yadav 1/22)