New Zealand enjoyed an excellent day of cricket in Kanpur – first bowling India out for 345 and then ending on 129/0 after an unerring opening stand between Will Young and Tom Latham.
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While India was the team in control on Day 1 of the first of the ongoing three-match Test series against New Zealand, the visitors did a fine job to turn the tables on the second day. The Kiwis found themselves in a comfortable position at 129-0 when the umpires called stumps, trailing by 216 runs. The Kiwi opening pair of Tom Latham and Will Young displayed a composed batting performance to put pressure on Ajinkya Rahane’s men. India were bowled out for 345 runs earlier in the day, with Tim Southee definitely the star of the show with the ball. He picked up five wickets for 69 runs, and dismissed both of India’s set batters, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja. It was his bowling that brought New Zealand back into the game and they made the opportunity count. Kyle Jamieson was impressive with the ball as well, bagging three wickets for 91 runs while Ajaz Patel picked a couple for 90 runs.
India found themselves in a strong position when Day 2 resumed, batting at 258-4 with two fine batters at the crease. Shreyas Iyer had made 75 runs off 136 deliveries at the time and Ravindra Jadeja had scored 50 off 100 balls. Iyer eventually proved to be the star of the Indian team with the bat, as he became the 16th Indian to score a century on debut.
Iyer accumulated 105 runs off 171 deliveries. Jadeja, however, could not add to his score as he was dismissed for 50 off 112 balls. There were not any big contributions on the day from the Indian lower-order. Ravichandran Ashwin played a decent knock, scoring 38 runs off 56 deliveries while Umesh Yadav remained unbeaten on 10 off 34 balls.
Usually, on a subcontinent track, Indian spinners are known to bowl quite well and dismantle any batting unit. That, however, was not the case in Kanpur. The Kiwi opening duo of Latham and Young displayed an incredible performance of Test cricket batting. New Zealand did not lose a single wicket in the day as the duo remained unbeaten in a partnership of 129 runs.
Young played exceptional cricket as he remained unbeaten on 75 runs off 180 deliveries at the end of the day’s play. He hit 12 boundaries in his knock and while it was frustrating for the Indian bowlers, the batting performance was a thing of beauty to the neutral eye.
Latham also did a fine job of supporting his opening partner and getting some important runs on the board for his team. The Kiwi batter made a fine half-century as he remained unbeaten on 50 off 165 balls in a knock that included four boundaries.
There was not much help for the Indian spinners for the most part of the day but towards the end, the likes of Ashwin and Axar Patel did manage to get some grip out of it. Ashwin bowled a few rippers that completely fooled the batters and that is something skipper Ajinkya Rahane could use going into Day 3.
