After 10 minutes of poor batting and questionable umpiring decision, India found themselves in a comfortable position at the end of the day’s play at Wankhede stadium. Opener Mayank Agarwal returned to form and scored his fourth Test century at home to recover from three quick wickets. Agarwal remained unbeaten for 120 alongside Wriddhiman Saha to take India to 221/4 from 70 overs on Day 1.
Toss and changes
Skipper Virat Kohli’s return did not turn out to be a huge boost for India in the first innings. However, Kohli succeeded in winning the toss and decided to bat first. The 33-year-old announced three changes to the side as Mohammed Siraj, Jayant Yadav replaced injured Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja respectively. On the other hand, the skipper replaced Rahane who was injured as well. There was one forced change on New Zealand side as well with Tom Latham leading the team in absence of injured Kane Williamson.
Ideal start from openers
India got off to a solid start after a delayed start due to wet outfield. Openers Agarwal and Shubman Gill played out the new ball. Kyle Jamieson did not look threatening on Wankhede pitch which prompted Latham to bring in spin early. In-form Tim Southee bowled well with the new ball and kept a lid of runs. The Indian openers attacked the spinners using their feet but in the 28th over of the innings Gill did not make use of the missed stumping and got off the next ball to left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. He missed his second half-century in the series getting out for 44 off 71 deliveries. He batted at a strike rate of 61.97 and scored seven fours and one six.
Mumbai-born spinner turns it around for Kiwis
The BlackCaps spinner extracted much spin from the surface and did not stop after Gill’s wicket. Bowling from around the wicket to Indian right-handed batters, he used his variations well. Cheteshwar Pujara advanced down the wicket and was undone by a fuller delivery from the off-spinner as it breached through his defence and disturbed the woodwork. It was followed by a delivery that did not turn too much and trapped Virat Kohli in front of the stumps. However, it was a controversial decision as lack of conclusive decision wasted Kohli’s DRS call leaving him fuming on return. Both Pujara and Kohli got out for a duck as India were reduced to 80/3 in 30 overs without adding a run to the score after Gill’s wicket.
Agarwal counter attacks
The Indian opener was dormant during the partnership with Gill but with wickets falling at the other end, he took on BlackCaps’ non-threatening spinners. He scored the majority of runs in the fourth-wicket partnership of 80 runs with Shreyas Iyer. The centurion of Kanpur’s Test did not affect his scoring rate as he went on to hit his fourth Test century in the 59th over. Saha too provided support from other end almost carrying forward his unbeaten 61 from Kanpur. At the end of day’s play the fifth-wicket partnership was worth 61 runs with Saha scoring 25 runs from 53 deliveries. Agarwal has scored two double centuries in Test cricket so far and he will have another chance on Day 2 with an overnight score of 120.