Debutant arrests another batting collapse with lower-order, becomes 1st Indian to score ton & half-century on debut as hosts take upper hand
The lower middle-order has bailed India out of another precarious situation in a Test match. It's become a norm now. And, it is an irony that any contribution from the top and middle-order seems like a bonus. Sunday was just another day of heavy-lifting for the lower order and this time it was debutant Shreyas Iyer, for the second time in the match, who played the lead role to drag India from 51/5 to ensure they could declare after setting a challenging 284-run target for New Zealand.
An hour into the fourth day, New Zealand seamers had got the wood over the Indians again. Five hours later, riding on Iyer's 65, Wriddhiman Saha's unbeaten 61 and Ravichandran Ashwin's 32, India were all over the Kiwis. With Ashwin's ball scooting along the surface and another poor decision given by umpire Virender Sharma, India had dismissed Will Young LBW for two. New Zealand were staring at a daunting prospect of batting all day while chasing the remaining 280 runs.
The day started with now-familiar collapse of the top order. The little nip in the Kanpur morning air, a fairly new ball and lifeless Green Park pitch was enough for Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson to expose the Indian batters. Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have become too predictable with their vulnerabilities.
Jamieson found Pujara's gloves with an innocuous bouncer, Southee took Agarwal's outside edge while the left-arm spinner rapped Rahane on the pads almost on cue. When Southee caught Ravindra Jadeja plumb in front of the stumps for a duck, it must have left the dressing room cold. An embarrassing capitulation seemed inevitable.
The desperation was evident when Ashwin walked in ahead of Saha who is forever fighting to prove his batting credentials. And Saha did prove his significance with the bat, especially batting hours with a stiff neck. Batting coach Vikram Rathour raved about Saha's commitment towards the team, knowing he would only be used when first choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant is unavailable.
But as it has happened since the 36 all out debacle in Adelaide last year, India found unexpected heroes with the bat. That Iyer was in the middle, with a century behind his back in the first innings, helped maintain some calm as an enterprising Ashwin went about knocking runs. Iyer held the innings together and steadily moved towards becoming the only Indian batter to have scored a century and a half-century in his debut Test.
It required Iyer's maturity beyond his career-age for India to come out of a hole. Well, that has been true for most young cricketers coming through right through this year. He knows the conditions very well, but on Sunday he showcased his game awareness.
The New Zealand spinners didn't derive much bite and their slowness through the air meant the batters had enough time to adjust their shots. Iyer knew very well that the two crafty pacers were the real threat. He stood his ground, didn't try to counterattack and tested their fitness. The New Zealand pacers have bowled on all four days of the Test and Iyer capitalized on that. The odd charge down the track and a powerful hit off the spinners pushed the Kiwis further behind in the game.
As Iyer wore them down, the loose balls started to come and the runs started to flow despite Ashwin chopping a Jamieson delivery on to his stumps. Saha had to just stay put and try nothing fancy. He tried to break the shackles early on in the innings against off-spinner Will Somerville but was dropped at short mid-wicket by Henry Nicholls.
By the time Iyer played a tired pull shot and gloved a dying short ball from Southee to the wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, he had extracted every bit of energy from the Kiwi attack. With a lead of 216 on the board, he had taken India out of turbulence and the safe shores were on the horizon as Axar Patel joined Saha.
Some sensible batting for another hour with 67 runs put up by Saha and Axar piled on the agony for New Zealand. The target comes across as a very difficult one. This pitch has not been easy to score on. If there's any assistance for the bowlers, it's the excruciating low bounce. The lower order has done its bit to help India get the upper hand, Now, the team needs to finish the job.
