India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 1: Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane dominate the proceedings
India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 1: Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane dominate the proceedings
- Pujara and Rahane ensured India did not lose another wicket in the second session © Getty Images
India did well to recover from the early blows received in the first session, as their crisis management experts Chetweshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane anchored the innings and bailed the team out from a potentially precarious situation. Starting the session at 3 for 57, the duo stitched an unbeaten partnership and ensured the session belonged to India. The New Zealand bowlers tried virtually everything and even came close to getting a breakthrough once, when in the 51st over of the day being bowled by Jeetan Patel, Rahane narrowly escaped a stunning catch running backwards towards the mid-on region when he tried a rare fancy shot.
But apart from this one-off chance, the duo did not give any chance to the opposition bowlers and batted brilliantly. Pujara, especially, looked sublime as he brought his skills to perfect use in difficult times for the team. He brought in his fifty in style, hitting a Trent Boult delivery towards backward point region for a four, his fourth by then. This was his third fifty in as many innings, having earlier scored a fifty in both innings of the Kanpur Test. With a lot of fuss surrounding his strike rate of late, this was just the befitting reply Pujara could give to underline the fact that he is India’s best batsman at home in the current times. His partner Rahane too showed the same commitment and came good when India needed him. They have added 90 runs till now as India went to Tea finishing a terrific second session.
However, the day did not start that well for Virat Kohli and his men, with the only exception being the former winning the toss and opting to bat. At the same time, he cleared the air over one of the most debated topics going around in the country — Gautam Gambhir or Shikhar Dhawan, who should he go with? While Gambhir was coming in to the side after a two-year hiatus on the back of a superb Duleep Trophy, Dhawan was benched in the first Test after an indifferent run of late. KL Rahul’s injury, in the end, became Dhawan’s gain as he elbowed out Gambhir in the race to be in the playing XI. Besides this forced change, Kohli also picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar in place of Umesh Yadav, preferring former’s traditional swing over latter’s pace and reverse swing.
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Coming back to Dhawan, the happiness, however, was short-lived, as he was the first one to depart. Matt Henry, one of the three changes made by the Kiwis, was drafted in to the playing XI in place of Ish Sodhi and proved his inclusion a masterstroke by inflicting early damage on the hosts. His pace infused a fresh dimension to the Kiwi attack, which perhaps was missing in the last match. Dhawan’s defence was partly rattled by a quicker delivery, which he chopped on to the stumps. But his technical flaw and wrong shot selection played a major role in his fall, which triggered a war on social media zone between his as well as Gambhir’s fans.
Nickmaned ‘The Monk’, Murali Vijay couldn’t display a monk-like patience to stay on the wicket today. Henry was constantly testing him outside the off stump and did beat the outside edges on a few occasions. His persistence paid off eventually as Vijay edged one to BJ Watling behind the stumps, leaving India reeling at 2 for 28. Skipper Kohli, who was due for a big one, disappointed once again. It was Boult this time as a combination of Kohli’s fetish to chase a wide delivery outside off and a stunning catch by Tom Latham at gully sent the Indian captain packing. India, at this point were reduced to 3 for 46. Rahane, who joined Pujara in the middle, played cautiously as the duo ensured no further damage was done till lunch.
The Eden Gardens wicket, as my colleague Suvajit Mustafi mentioned in the first session’s report, is two paced. This Test is special in many ways. It is India’s 250th Test at home. It is notable here that the last Test at Kanpur too was a special one as it was India’s 500th Test overall. It took the Indian team 84 years and participation of 285 players to reach to that landmark. Another thing that made this Test special was the installation of a Lord’s-like bell at the Eden Gardens, with legendary Indian captain Kapil Dev getting the privilege of ringing it for the first time, just five minutes before the commencement of play.
The New Zealand side earlier made three changes, two of which were forced ones, with their regular skipper Kane Williamson being ruled out due to illness and Ross Taylor leading in his absence. Another change was in the form of off-spinner Mark Craig, who was ruled out with a side strain and was replaced by Jeetan Patel, who was flown in as an emergency replacement. Patel, who is 36-years old now, is a seasoned campaigner and has prior experience of playing in these conditions. His call up comes after two years, almost at a time when perhaps he himself would have given up the hopes of a comeback.
With score being 3 for 136 at the end of second session, Team India will look to continue to hold the advantage in the match by having another good session, which is also the final session of day 1. Pujara, who had a couple of fifty plus scores in the first Test at Kanpur, will look to get to that three-figure mark finally. Rahane too will be itching to get to a personal landmark. India do have decent batting left after this, with Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja yet to come.
Brief Scores
India 136 for 3 (Cheteshwar Pujara 64*, Ajinkya Rahane 42*; Matt Henry 2 for 27, Trent Boult 1 for 18) vs New Zealand
Photos: India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test at Kolkata
(A self-confessed cricket freak, Chinmay Jawalekar is senior writer with CricketCountry. When not writing or following cricket, he loves to read, eat and sleep. He can be followed here @CricfreakTweets)