Sloppy Indian Start To the Second Test Gets Pujara, Rahane Support

The second test between Indian and New Zealand did not get that good a start which would have been desired by the hosts. The most celebrated batsmen from the side failed to deliver once again with skipper too in the list of those.

Previously, the final team selection stunned the spectators as it did not contain the veteran Gautam Gambhir. Instead, at his place, Shikhar Dhawan received a chance to open the innings.

 The Indian skipper Virat Kohli opted to bat first on winning the toss but his decision was defied by his batsmen as Shikhar Dhawan went to the dugout only in the second over. He had only a single run credited to his name. Quick to follow him was in-form Murali Vijay who scored more-than-half centuries in both the innings of the previous test, at the score of 9 runs.

The biggest blow that the team received was in the form of skipper Virat Kohli who is yet to show his class in the test matches. He returned with a contribution of only 9 runs and after his dismissal, the team score read 46/3, sounding too needy.

But the scenario changed soon after when the ‘new wall’ Cheteshwar Pujara made his way to the crease. He took the liability to score and put up a spectacular 141 run stand with Ajinkya Rahane for the 4^th wicket.

Pujara made a brilliant 87 runs which came out of 219 balls and contained 17 fours. Rahane too did well in his innings of 77 runs which he got off 157 balls and hit 11 fours in the same.

Until these two stayed on the crease, the dressing room was in utter relief but as soon as Pujara returned to the dugout, there was a flurry of wickets. Rohit Sharma returned with only 2 runs to his name while Ravichandran Ashwin could also manage only 26 runs off 33 balls, including 4 fours.

At the end of the day’s play, wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha was on the crease on 21 runs with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on the other side, who was yet to open his tally of runs. Indian score read 239 runs for the loss of 7 wickets when the play was stopped 4 overs before the stipulated period.

The Indian team was expecting to obtain a better finish at the beginning of day 2 so that they could atleast get to a respectable total of about 300 runs. But once again they got a huge setback when one more in-form batsmen Ravindra Jadeja returned early on day 2. He contributed 14 runs off 31 balls which included a single six.

Meanwhile Wriddhiman Saha batted brilliantly and reached to his half-century in style with a six. He remained unbeaten on 54 runs which came out of 85 balls and included 7 fours and 2 brilliant sixes. Mohammad Shami too contributed 14 runs off 14 balls and hit 3 fours in the same.

At the end of their first innings, the Indians managed to reach a score 316 runs which came off 104.5 overs as per the Latest Sport News.

New Zealand bowlers were good with the ball and gave no extra runs, except for a few sloppy byes and leg byes. The pick of the bowlers was newly included Matt Henry who picked up 3 wickets for 46 runs in his 20 overs. Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and spinner Jeetan Patel shared 2 wickets each from the Indian lineup while Mitchell Santner also managed to add a wicket to his overall tally.

The New Zealand batting lineup has lost his backbone and skipper Kane Williamson who is out due to illness. Now the burden to score rests all on the experienced Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor.