1st Test: Henry & Conway star in NZ’s day out as India record lowest total at home (ld)

Bengaluru, Oct 17 (IANS) For the fans itching to watch Test cricket action in Bengaluru, the wait was long. Day one of the India-New Zealand Test saw them see the rain hold fort. Day two could have gone down that route, but the cricketing Gods finally blessed the Bengaluru fans with Test match action.

But the wishes of sparse fans to see India dominate New Zealand didn’t pan out as per their expectations as under overcast skies, which made conditions more of England and less of India, especially with the pitch mostly under covers, New Zealand's fast bowlers bowled out India for 46, their lowest Test score at home and third fewest overall.

With the bat, opener Devon Conway's stroke-filled 91 on a pitch which eased out for batting helped New Zealand end day two’s play at 180/3 and lead India by 134 runs. With the ball hooping around, Matt Henry’s 5-15 and William O’Rourke’s 4-22 ensured New Zealand gained upper hand as the much-famed Indian batting line-up wilted due to lack of application under overcast skies.

Yashasvi Jaiswal managed to survive despite being beaten multiple times by the pacers. Captain Rohit Sharma was far from his fluent best and even survived an lbw appeal on umpire’s call off Henry. But in a bid to step out against a masterly Tim Southee, Rohit was castled through the gate while going for a big drive against the inswinger.

Virat Kohli’s surprising promotion to number three, with Shubman Gill out due to stiff neck, earned him vociferous chants from the crowd at his adopted home ground. But it was brought to a quick end when O’Rourke got extra bounce on a nip-backer which Kohli looked to defend, but it took the glove edge to forward leaping Glenn Phillips at leg-gully, as he departed for a nine-ball duck.

More trouble followed India as Sarfaraz Khan tried to counterattack with a forceful lofted drive, but ended up mis-hitting off Henry to Conway at mid-off, who stuck out his right hand and took a stunning catch. Rishabh Pant was a curious mix of caution and aggressiveness, including trying to reverse-sweep off Henry, before rain brought a halt to the proceedings.

After play resumed at 11:05am, Pant and Jaiswal got a boundary each to try and rebuild India’s innings. But O’Rourke struck again as Jaiswal went hard on the cut and was caught brilliantly by backward point diving low to his left.

One brought two for the pacer as KL Rahul, originally slotted to come at three, was strangled down leg for a six-ball duck off Henry, and was followed by Ravindra Jadeja being bizarrely too early into the flick and gave a high leading edge to backward point off Henry as New Zealand walked off the field as the happier side at lunch.

Post lunch, Henry struck on the very first ball by catching shoulder edge of Ravichandran Ashwin and the ball lobbed to gully. He then enticed Pant into tentative defence and edged to second slip. O’Rourke had Bumrah heaving to long leg, before Henry ended the Indian batting horror show by having Kuldeep Yadav caught at gully to get his 100th Test wicket.

After their captivating bowlers and brilliant fielders joined forces to blow away India, Conway was the main aggressor in a 67-run opening stand with captain Tom Latham. With bright sunshine slowly making way, Conway was superb in clipping and driving Mohammed Siraj for boundaries, followed by sweetly timing his fours off Jasprit Bumrah.

What really stood out from Conway’s breezy knock was the takedown of Ashwin. With his armoury of sweeps, reverse sweeps and even sixes smashed down the ground, Conway’s attacking blitzkrieg ensured he got his tenth Test fifty in 54 balls, as Ashwin went for 31 runs in his first six overs.

Though Kuldeep Yadav got India the breakthrough by trapping Latham lbw with a googly, Conway took two boundaries via drive and Will Young beginning brightly meant New Zealand pocketed another session. Batting at number three in place of injured Kane Williamson, Young began the final session by firmly hitting four boundaries off Kuldeep.

The misery increased on India as Rohit put down tough chances twice at slip of Conway and Young off Jadeja’s bowling. It was followed by the team giving Young a life when a throw went to the wrong end and Pant hobbled off the field after being hit on side of right knee by a sharply spinning in delivery from Jadeja, which evaded Conway’s attempted drive.

With Dhruv Jurel stepping in as the substitute keeper, Conway then showed his solidness on the front foot and back foot by hitting Kuldeep for six and four, before Young gave a top-edge on a sweep off Jadeja to fine leg and fall for 33.

Three overs later, Ashwin struck when Conway went for a pre-mediated sweep, but got into a tangle and saw the fuller ball rattle the stumps. Rachin Ravindra (22 not out) and Daryl Mitchell (14 not out) looked impressive in their stay at the crease before stumps came on a spectacular day of Test cricket for New Zealand, which was completely opposite of fans’ thoughts.

Brief Scores: India 46 in 31.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 20; Matt Henry 5-15) trail New Zealand 180/3 in 50 overs (Devon Conway 91; Ravindra Jadeja 1-28) by 134 runs

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