Fans always wondered why matches or day’s play kept getting abandoned due to wet outfield. The one hovering question was why entire grounds were not covered with plastic sheets. The fourth Test between India and West Indies at Port of Spain got abandoned due to the same reason. The draw match resulted in India losing their No.1 spot in the ICC Test ranking. The drainage at Eden Gardens, Kolkata is not the best. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has re-laid the turf. It was good to see Eden Gardens being completely covered when rains came in during the second session of Day Two, in doing so halted India’s march. The same was ensured by CAB President Sourav Ganguly during the ICC World T20 match between India and Pakistan. Despite heavy rains, the match went underway with minimum loss on overs. Good signs.
Replying to India’s 316, New Zealand went to lunch at 21 for 2. They were soon reduced to 23 for 3 after Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleaned up Kane Williamson’s replacement Henry Nichols. From there on, stand-in captain Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi batted positively to help New Zealand to 85 for 4 at tea. An early tea had to be taken because of the showers.
Usually, the second session at Eden Gardens helps batting and the visitors took that to their advantage. However, India had their moments too. New Zealand survived a few narrow escapes and a drop catch cost them the wicket of in-form Ronchi.
The eventful Ronchi stay
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Ronchi scored a stroke-filled 35 from 52 balls. In the 14th over of the innings, Shami got him to cut hard and Virat Kohli had employed a short point. The man stationed there was substitute fielder Gautam Gambhir, who failed to grab that despite getting his hands to it. Ajinkya Rahane ran towards a disappointed Gambhir and gave his senior colleague a pat on the back. In the 17th over, Ravindra Jadeja trapped Ronchi on his pads but umpire Rod Tucker ruled it in favour of the batsman. Jadeja seemed livid and rightly so. The ball would have gone on to hit the leg-stump.
Ronchi looked positive against the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin but struggled against Jadeja, who finally had the last laugh. He dismissed him, trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Jadeja has now got Ronchi dismissed in all three innings in this series.
The wicket
As the second session progressed, the assistance to seam bowling got lesser comparatively. It was expected. Kohli soon employed spin bowling. While there was no apparent ‘big turn’, the spinners did get the zip and the variable bounce was quite alarming. Ronchi stayed on the back foot to an Ashwin delivery which did not bounce at all. Luckily for the batsman, it was outside off-stump. It even went on to beat wicketkeeper Saha as the batsmen got bye runs.
It is imperative that the batsmen play more on the front foot, especially to spin bowlers as the bounce of the surface cannot be trusted.
Glimpses of vintage Ross Taylor
Stand-in skipper Taylor applied himself well. While Ronchi lived dangerously, Taylor was far more composed. You know when Taylor is batting well when he gets his slog sweeps right. In the 16th over, he swept one Ashwin delivery powerfully to the square-leg region. The next ball, he drove it beautifully in the extra-cover region for another boundary.
Taylor is 30 not out from 70 deliveries and his knock has consisted four boundaries so far. He will have to weave in good partnerships with Mitchell Santner and BJ Watling to give New Zealand a minuscule chance in the second Test.
Brief Scores:
India 316 (Cheteshwar Pujara 87, Ajinkya Rahane 77, Wriddhiman Saha 54*; Matt Henry 3 for 46, Trent Boult 2 for 46) lead New Zealand 85 for 4 (Luke Ronchi 35, Ross Taylor 30*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 20) by 231 runs.
(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer, strategist, entrepreneur, philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and rivu7)
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