Debutant Shreyas Iyer repaid the faith of selectors with an unbeaten 75 on Day 1 of the Kanpur Test. Iyer’s partnership with Ravindra Jadeja for the fifth wicket helped India finish well on the opening day of the first Test of the two-Test series. The 113-run unbeaten partnership helped India post 258/4 before bad light stopped play in the third session.
Damage control in third session
India were reduced to 145/4 in the second session with skipper Ajinkya Rahane getting out. Iyer was still trying to play himself in when Jadeja joined him in the middle. The 26-year-old debutant was lucky not to get out in the second session itself to Kiwi off-spinner William Somerville. In the third session, Iyer dominated Kiwi bowlers. The Mumbai batter even stepped out of the crease to hit sixes. At stumps, he was batting on 75 off 136 deliveries. If Iyer goes on to score a hundred, he will become the third batsman from Mumbai to score a hundred on debut after Rohit Sharma and Prithvi Shaw.
Iyer’s partner Jadeja was unfazed by BlackCaps bowlers. The all-rounder was beaten by the uneven bounce of the Kanpur pitch on few occasions but went on to score his 17th Test fifty and celebrate it with his iconic sword celebration. At the end of the day’s play, Jadeja is unbeaten on 50 from 100 deliveries including six fours. The two set batters will have their work cut out in first session of Day 2 as the ball is just four overs old.
Dreadful second session
The Kiwi bowlers had their tails up in the second session. Opener Shubman Gill got out to a jaffa of a delivery from Kyle Jamieson. The in-swinger went through the huge bat and pad gap as Gill’s offstump fell on the ground. The young opener scored 52 runs from 93 deliveries including five fours and one six. After Gill’s wicket, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane took control of the innings. The third-wicket partnership was going well but then Pujara got out poking at a delivery outside off-stump. The veteran batter got out to Tim Southee after scoring 26 runs off 88 deliveries.
Rahane was batting well in the second session but lost his concentration after the DRS call went his way. He was given caught out while trying to play a shot towards fine leg. The review showed that the ball had not hit his bat on the way to wicketkeeper’s gloves. On the next ball, Rahane went for a full-blooded shot outside off and the inside edge hit the stumps. Jamieson turned out to be the only bowler that tested Indian batters as he took three wickets for 47 runs in 15.2 overs.
Solid start
Earlier Rahane had won the toss and elected to bat first. In the absence of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Gill opened the innings. Agarwal got out early as he edged one to the wicketkeeper trying to play one outside off stump. Agarwal got out for 13 in the eighth over and Pujara joined Gill in the middle. While Pujara took his time in typical fashion trying to play out the new ball, Gill counter-attacked and hit five fours and one six.
