Home ›› 27 Nov 2021 ›› Sport
India finished the second day of the first Test on the defensive with New Zealand’s openers unbeaten on 129 after Tim Southee’s five-for restricted the hosts to 345.
The Black Caps’ openers Tom Latham on 50 and Will Young on 75 survived 41 testing overs of spin by Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Starting the second day on 258-4 in their first innings in a polluted Kanpur, all the Indian batsmen except debutant Shreyas Iyer found Southee a handful.
The 32-year-old pacer finished with five for 69 in his 27.4-over spell, four of the wickets coming in Friday’s morning session, getting New Zealand back into the game after Iyer’s maiden Test century.
India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane introduced Ashwin’s spin after seven uneventful overs by pacers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav on a slow pitch.
Latham and Young looked in control, rotating strike at will and hitting 16 fours between them to keep the scoreboard moving.
Latham, on 50, was given out caught behind off Ashwin in the penultimate over of the day before bad light stopped play, but was reprieved on review.
The World Test Championship holders now trail India by 216 runs in the first innings, with the pitch expected to further aid Indian spinners on Saturday.
Ashwin finished the day with 17 wicket-less overs for 38 runs. Sharma was taken out of the attack only after six overs and Umesh bowled his 10 for 26 runs.
Southee stopped the Indian advance in the first session on Friday when he bowled Ravindra Jadeja in his 12th delivery of the day for 50, the all-rounder having failed to add to his overnight score.
This broke Jadeja’s 121-run partnership with Iyer and started the Indian collapse. White-ball specialist Iyer hit 13 fours and two sixes in his 171-ball innings of 105 before he was undone by Southee and caught by Young at cover to reduce India to 305-7.
The hosts went to lunch at 339-8 and lost the last two wickets immediately after the break, both to Ajaz Patel. Ravichandran Ashwin was bowled by Patel for 38 off 56 balls and the spinner also claimed Ishant Sharma for zero.
