New Zealand were placed at a strong position of 129/0 in reply to India’s first innings total of 345, at the end of play on the second day of the opening Test match being played at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur on Friday.
New Zealand trail by a further 216 runs in the first innings and they have all of their 10 wickets intact after openers Tom Latham and Will Young produced half-centuries to put their team on top.
The second day of the Kanpur Test completely belonged to the visiting team New Zealand as the first restricted India to an at par total of 345 after the home team resumed proceedings on Friday at a comfortable position of 258/4. India’s debutant Shreyas Iyer joined an exclusive list of players to have scored a century on his Test debut, but it was Tim Southee who shone brightly on the second day morning.
The veteran right-arm fast bowler Southee produced a spectacular spell of fast bowling on what has been a batting friendly wicket in Kanpur. Southee recorded his third five wicket haul against India, returning with figures of 27.4-6-69-5, after struggling through a groin trouble on the opening day of the series.
Southee dismissed Iyer for 105, overnight batsmen Ravindra Jadeja for 50, and continued to add more to his wicket tally when he accounted for the likes of Wriddhiman Saha (1) and Akshar Patel (3).
On the other hand, having bowled his heart out on the first day which also witnessed him bowling a negative line to an in-form Shreyas Iyer, Ajaz Patel got a couple of wickets towards the end of the Indian innings to return with the figures of 29.1-7-90-2. Kyle Jamieson was also impressive as he took 3/91 from his 23.2 overs.
India had to bowl about 57 overs after they were bowled out for 345 in the first innings. But in the remainder of the day, the home team’s bowlers tried almost every trick in their books but could not penetrate into their New Zealand line-up.
Tom Latham was laid-back but extremely assured of his approach, as he survived three appeals against him to reach 50 not out from 165 balls with the help of four boundaries. Latham sought the help of DRS as many as three times during the course of his innings on Friday to overturn decisions which were given against him — he was adjudged leg before twice and caught behind once.
On the other hand, Young scored 75 not out from 180 balls with 12 hits to the fence as the two New Zealand batsmen put on a strong partnership in the middle to send a message across that the Kiwis are not going to be intimidated by India’s battery of spinners, which also included Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja along with Akshar Patel.