On the second day of the first Test of a three-match series, India was bowled out for 46 by New Zealand, capping a nightmare performance just a week after their thrilling victory against Bangladesh in Kanpur. On a cloudy morning in Bengaluru, India's innings lasted just 31.2 overs, as the Asian giants set an unfavourable record and ended up with their third-lowest total in Test cricket history. Additionally, it was India's lowest home Test total.
India recreate 136-year-old unwanted record
It is for the second time in Test history that five of the top 8 batters of a team failed to open their account and returned to the dugout after scoring ducks. The last time this happened was back in 1888 during a match between England and Australia in Manchester. In that match, Australia lost five of the top 8 batters on a duck but it happened in their second innings and the first four of their batters departed without scoring a single run during that particular outing.
Henry, O'Rourke become Indian batters' nightmare
After veteran Tim Southee initiated the collapse taking the key wicket of India skipper Rohit Sharma as early as the first hour of play, New Zealand pacers William O'Rourke and Matt Henry followed it by breathing fire and rattling the Indian line-up. India suffered the consequences of choosing to bat under overcast skies and on a pitch that had been covered for the majority of the previous three days due to heavy rain in the city.
In the Indian innings, there were up to five ducks. The batters who did not contribute to the scoreboard at all at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday were Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, R Ashwin, and Virat Kohli, who was unexpectedly assigned to bat at No. 3.
