New Zealand need big lead to keep India spinners out of the game: Daniel Vettori

After Tim Southee’s impressive spell in the first session of Day Two, the New Zealand openers dominated the proceedings against India to reach 129 for no loss on the second day of the opening Test in Kanpur. The highlight for India in the struggling day was debutant Shreyas Iyer’s belligerent century. However, former New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori believes that the Kiwis will have to get a big lead in order to outplay India.

The hosts scored 345 runs in their first innings and it seemed that it was a good enough score. However, after the opening stand by New Zealand’s openers, the runs seem just a par total. The Indian bowlers toiled hard but couldn’t reap any rewards.

Vettori thus pointed that though New Zealand has got to a good start they will need to capitalize on it. According to him, the pitch will get better in the coming days and thus the visitors will require a big lead to keep Indian spinners out of the game.

“I still that the wicket is going to play a huge role in this game. New Zealand needs a big lead to keep India spinners out of the game,” Daniel Vettori said in a conversation with ESPN Cricinfo.

Wasim Jaffer opens up on the Kanpur pitch 

The former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer also put forward his opinions on the Kanpur pitch. He added that though the spinners did not get much help on day two, India will be hoping that the pitch starts to play a bit of trick on day three.

“I think on day one you do have a little bit of moisture. And the pitch plays a little bit tricky. But I think it has settled down nicely. The bounce is more consistent and even though it is on the lower side it’s still consistent.

It’s not spinning as much as we expected even though in the last session it did a few tricks. India will be hoping that it starts to play a bit of trick from the first session. Generally day two of a Test match every decent Test pitch always plays better so I think it has played to its reputation,” Jaffer said.