Ind vs NZ - 1st Test, Day 2, Kanpur - NZ at 129-0 after Southee fifer restricts India to 345
Latham, Young make India's spinners toil after Shreyas Iyer's 105
Brief Scores: New Zealand 129-0 (Young 75*, Latham 50*) trail India 345 (Shreyas Iyer 105, Gill 52, Jadeja 50, Southee 5-69) by 216 runs at Stumps on Day Two
India going in to the second day were in a commanding position with two set batters at the crease and with two all-rounders and Wriddhiman Saha, the wicketkeeper-batter to follow. On the flip of the coin, Blackcaps were planning to start fresh and get two to three scalps as early as possible to restrict the home side at least under 320-odd runs.
The 22-yard was slowly changing its nature with the cracks opening up slightly; the variable bounce like the first day would continue to create problems for the batters but most importantly the slowness of the surface would give the batters enough time to play their shots which meant it was still a good batting track going into Day Two.
Tim Southee stunts India’s flow of runs with quick wickets; India make 81-4 in morning session
The two overnight batters, Shreyas Iyer on 75* and Ravindra Jadeja on 50*, walked in to bat. Although the former hit couple of boundaries to start the morning, New Zealand showed why they are the current World Test Champions.
Southee drew first blood of the second day with a little chop on off Jadeja. Iyer since then seemed to lose knowledge of his shirt colour and with a couple of more fours, inched closer to a debut hundred which arrived with a couple.
A debut century and Iyer joined an elite group of Indian batters receiving so much applause from the dressing room. The question is already in the air now as to who will Virat replace in Mumbai? Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane?
Since then, the first hour belonged to Tim Southee and New Zealand. He initially found the edge of Saha's bat before making Iyer play a shot against a ball bowled really away from him just after the drinks break. The 32-year-old went on to get the edge of Axar Patel too to become the first visiting bowler since 1980 to grab a 5-wicket haul in Kanpur.
In between all those scenes, Ashwin showed intent to hit the balls; well, he might be giving the coach and team management something to promote himself at least over Axar; least he could expect with four centuries in his Test career.
Well, both Ashwin and Umesh Yadav ensured that there would be no more hiccups till lunch but the visiting team would have a sweet lunch taking 4 wickets for 81 runs, the standout being Southee who even after being injured last evening, bowled 11 tight overs.
Read More: Ind vs NZ, 1st Test, Day 1, Kanpur – India at 258-4; Jamieson gets 3-fer, Shreyas gets 50 on debut
