Bengaluru: Before the rain came down in the first session on Thursday, New Zealand sent down 12.4 overs with a shiny SG new ball on a gloomy morning. That was all they needed to banish whatever misconceptions anyone might have had about them.
India never recovered from that short burst of seam-induced madness which saw them crash to 13/3 with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the hut. The wickets kept tumbling after that India were all out for 46 in 31.2 overs, their lowest score at home; the lowest by any Asian team at home too.
One of cricket’s idiosyncrasies is that conditions can sometimes have an overbearing influence on the proceedings. It’s not just about the team. It is also about the timing. And that is why Rohit Sharma admitted he got the toss wrong as captain.
But once the decision was taken, surely Rohit the batter should have known that trying to wear down the pacers was the smarter way. He’s done it admirably before — with KL Rahul for company during their century-plus opening partnership in India’s famous 2021 Lord’s Test win against James Anderson and Co.
In lead up to the Test match, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir had spoken about being a team that ‘can score 400 runs in the day’ or ‘bat out two days’ if needed.
This wasn’t Test cricket in England or New Zealand, but evidently Tom Latham in his first day as his team’s permanent captain got lucky. These were conditions that he would have wished for and that is what he got. How often would you get a spiced up moist wicket in a spin-country and how often do you have the bowlers to exploit it?
Disruption with calculated aggression has become more common in Test cricket, but its effectiveness can be overrated; particularly in seaming conditions.
Southee, the old-timer, was giving Rohit a proper workout with his signature outswing. One could sense him playing on the Indian skipper’s patience. He had survived a close lbw call against Matt Henry’s incoming delivery to Umpire’s Call for height. And there were a fe more plays and missed as well.
But he would have also known that Southee possesses uses the wobble seam well. These deliveries are never telegraphed and in trying to force the issue with an element of pre-meditation, Rohit tried to clear the field but the ball came in sharply to disturb the timber.
Virat Kohli walked out – at No 3 after eight years – to loud cheers from the crowd that was picking up in numbers. It could have been KL Rahul, more accustomed to handling the new ball, now that Shubman Gill was out with a stiff neck.
More of Southee shaping it away to test Kohli’s outside edge? No. Latham introduced the tall 6’4 William O’Rourke with a leg-slip. The final ball of the over jumped off the surface, jagged back in and the rookie pacer managed to silence the stadium. Kohli was reluctantly walking back with a ‘how–did-that-rise-up’ expression.
Sarfaraz Khan came in and went out for no score, playing an unusually aggressive stroke to break Henry’s nagging lengths. Even if he was under instructions to counterattack, the question lingers if he was best equipped to do it, and whether using the ploy was the best tactic.
Pant showed some patience before switching to dare Henry with a reverse sweep. He’s done it effectively before, but this time the ball caught the back of the bat. Pant was lucky to escape.
On resumption after the drizzle, Yashasvi Jaiswal (13, 63b), the only batter trying to fight his way out of trouble fell, slashing to point. KL Rahul arrived at 6, to hold his new position, and fell trying to guide a ball down the leg side.
Being disciplined is the one thing New Zealand bowlers do best and this meant, India’s lower middle order was given no opportunity to shine either. Henry was the most productive Kiwi bowler with figures of 13.2-3-15-5. O’Rourke (12-6-22-4) had a dream first outing in India.
To dampen India’s spirits further, the sun came out as soon as the Kiwi openers arrived in the post-lunch session. India did not have the luxury of three seamers and their two, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, weren’t as penetrative with the new ball. Thanks to a fluent 91 from Devon Conway and some fielding lapses from India, New Zealand had raced away to a 134-run lead with seven wickets standing.
“For us to stay in the game, we need to restrict them too as less as possible. The pitch is settling down. So, we have to bat really big in the second innings and to try and see if we can make a game out of this,” said Rohit.
