Everything looked like moving according to India’s plan till the first session on day two of the first Test in Kanpur. With 345 runs on the board with the odd ball shooting along the turf on the slow Green Park pitch and a bowling attack comprising two accomplished pacers and three established spinners, it seemed that India were all set to smother New Zealand.
However, at stumps 57 overs later, it was the visiting side which had taken the day’s honours with openers Will Young and Tom Latham walking back unbeaten on 75 and 50 respectively with 129/0 on the board.
India came close to taking a wicket in the third over of the innings when Latham was given out LBW off Ishant Sharma before it emerged that there was an inside edge. In fact, Latham was given out on two other occasions too but he got the decisions reversed with successful reviews.
There on, it was driving in open traffic for Young and Latham. There was the odd ball from Ravindra Jadeja that gripped and straightened. Besides that, it was a hassle-free partnership.
Before that, there was the glorious moment of Shreyas Iyer bringing up his century on Test debut in the first session of the day.
Iyer’s dominance in the first hour of the day when he added 30 off 41 balls to his overnight score remained the only highlight of the day for India.
New Zealand’s opening partnership and Tim Southee’s probing marathon spell highlighted why the Kiwis are such a formidable force across formats. Even as Iyer was knocking boundaries for fun in the morning haze, Southee was putting on an impressive show of seam bowling.
The veteran pacer finished with 5/69 before Ajaz Patel cleaned up the last two wickets of the innings. Ajaz remained the only spinner out of six playing in the match to have recorded wickets against his name so far.
Slow turn and lack of bounce was always going to test the spinners. But the Kiwi pacers outbowling the seasoned India pacers Ishant and Umesh Yadav would leave a dent on the ego of the hosts.
Southee spoke about the amount of planning that went in before they arrived in India. He carried a red ball with him right through the IPL and the T20 World Cup. Southee defied the conditions that looked arduous for the Indian pacers later in the day.
He flaunted his reverse-swinging skills to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara on day one and then he came back on the second morning with the new ball to put up an exhibition of swing bowling by castling Ravindra Jadeja and then having Wriddhiman Saha edging one to the wicketkeeper Tom Blundell while driving at a full outswinger.
That wasn’t all.
He used the slower ball to flummox a well-set Shreyas Iyer. The Indian spinners and pacers concentrated on bowling tight defensive lines close to the batters. In turn, Young and Latham kept the fielders backward of square on the on-side busy.
