MATCH STORY
Follow UsIndia’s decision of opting to bat first in the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand raised a few eyebrows. The conditions were gloomy, so much so that the floodlights were on when the first ball was bowled. A spicy pitch and the Kiwi seam attack which relishes swing bowling.
It felt like India were testing themselves as the white-ball team has done under the new coach, Gautam Gambhir, thus far.
And the results of that Test were not positive.
India were 12/3 in the first 10 overs, only the third time they had not scored a boundary in the first 10 overs of a home Test since 2001 and their second-lowest score in the first 10 overs in this time frame.
Before a rain break put them out of their misery (briefly), India were 13/3 in 12.4, with a run rate of 1.04 — in stark contrast to the previous Test where Rohit Sharma began his innings with back to back sixes and India shattered the record for their fastest team 100 and 200 in Kanpur.
The conditions in fact reminded of the gloomy morning in Manchester when India faced New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final. Similar cloud cover and a similar bowling attack with William O'Rourke instead of Trent Boult as the only change. Except for 5/3 that day, it was 10/3 today.
The ball swung from the first over with Tim Southee troubling Yashasvi Jaiswal and Matt Henry tying up Rohit. The Indian skipper had three single-digit scores in the preceding two Tests against Bangladesh. He received some rippers from Bangladeshi pacers in Chennai, bringing back his demons against the moving ball.
Rohit tackled it with aplomb in England where he put his head down to weather the storm. But of late, he has been operating in the mode of shifting the pressure back on the bowler. He tried the same against Southee, moving down to tackle the right-armer in the seventh over, but only to be bowled through the gate for 2.
India didn’t help their case further by batting Virat Kohli at number three, filling up the spot vacated by the unfit Shubman Gill. Batting at three for the first time since 2016, he was undone by a rising in-coming delivery in O'Rourke’s first over, the ninth of the innings. Glenn Phillips gobbled up the inside edge at leg gully. Kohli gone too, for a nine-ball duck.
In came Sarfaraz Khan for a three-ball stay. He tried to counterattack Henry, chipping the ball to mid-off where Devon Conway took a splendid one-handed catch. Sarfaraz must have felt unlucky but it was a well-earned wicket for Henry who deserved at least a couple more given the conviction with which he was beating the bat throughout his spell.
Both number three and number four gone for a duck. The last time it happened to India was also against New Zealand, in fact, the last time they played them in India — Wankhede, 2021.
Jaiswal (8 off 37 balls), normally all over the bowlers, also looked at sea only thrice at the start of the innings now — twice in South Africa and now in Bengaluru which portrays Johannesburg more than an Indian pitch.
The hosts clearly wanted to attack New Zealand but lacked clarity, with conditions overpowering their intentions. There were only a handful of attacking strokes with the Kiwi pacers continuously challenging Indian batters with fuller deliveries with excessive bounce.
The batting order also looked muddled with Kohli and Sarfaraz moving a spot up when KL Rahul, more proficient at playing the ball late and having opened for India 75 times before, is part of the XI.
The Test started a day late but it has kicked-off on an interesting note.
*India finished the session at 34/6, losing 21/3 after the rain interruption
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