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Not one session belonged to India as New Zealand broke stereotypes of visiting teams and made an emphatic comeback on Day 2 of Kanpur Test. There was not much to cheer for Indian fans after first session as New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Will Young stood tall on a spin-friendly track and scored their respective half-centuries. At the end of day’s play, New Zealand are in a commanding position with 129 for no loss and trail trimmed down to 216 runs.
Wicketless sessions for India
Contrary to popular belief on Indian pitches, New Zealand openers dominated Indian bowlers on a Day 2 pitch. They took their time, gave respect to the good balls and walked back to the dressing room unbeaten. Latham took 165 deliveries to score 50 runs whereas Young took 180 deliveries to score 75 runs. The southpaw scored just four boundaries whereas Young hit 12 fours in his second Test half-century. The unbeaten 129-run partnership is the third-highest opening stand for New Zealand in India. It is also the first century stand in five years by overseas openers in India.
Poor umpiring
Latham survived wrong umpiring decisions thrice in the innings. First, he was given lbw off Ishan Sharma’s delivery early on in the innings. Later in the second session, Latham was given lbw again off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling but the ball had hit his bat. Close to the end of day’s play, he was given caught out off Ravichandran Ashiwn’s delivery but DRS saved him again as ultraedge showed no spike.
Iyer's major feat amidst sensational Southee spell
The fifth-wicket partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja was broken early by Tim Southee who bowled a dream spell with the second new ball. Iyer carried on and became the 16th Indian batter to score a century on debut. The Mumbai batter added 30 more runs to his overnight account.
The wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha did not impress with the bat and scored just one run from 12 deliveries. Iyer got out after scoring 105 runs from 171 deliveries. Axar Patel followed him to the dressing room soon with just three runs from nine deliveries. Ashwin top-scored for India on Day 2 with 38 runs from 56 balls including five boundaries. Southee’s record fifer and Ajaz Patel prevented India from posting a big first innings total. India could add 89 runs to their overnight total and lost six wickets as they were bundled out for 345.
