Indian opener Mayank Agarwal showed the resistance on the opening day of the first Test match against New Zealand after Kane Williamson decided to put the visitors into bat. Agarwal became the second Indian opening batsman and first in 30 years to survive the first session of the Test match in New Zealand conditions. The last Indian opening batsman who survived the first session in New Zealand was Manoj Prabhakar.
Meanwhile, Agarwal had some lucky escapes in the first session. The right-hander showed the stomach for the fight but he also had the rub of the green on his side as Kane Williamson had no gully in place for him. Subsequently, the Karnataka batsman was able to get a couple of lucky boundaries in the third man region.
Agarwal could not convert his start into a big score.
However, Agarwal’s fight was cut short by Trent Boult who tested the right-hander with a short delivery. Agarwal could not keep his pull on the ground and made the mistake of hitting it in the air. The Kiwis debutant Kyle Jamieson took a good catch at fine leg to send back Agarwal for 34 runs.
Meanwhile, India got off to a bad start as Prithvi Shaw was dismissed by Tim Southee. The New Zealand pack leader was able to get the ball to move away from the right-hander to hit the timber.
Subsequently, Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara added 21 runs before the latter was dismissed by debutant Kyle Jamieson. Furthermore, the lanky pacer also got the big wicket of Indian captain Virat Kohli. Jamieson bowled the fifth stump line and Kohli went for the bait to give a simple catch to Ross Taylor.
India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane showed the resistance and is batting unbeaten on 38 runs. The visitors ended the opening day with 122-5 with Kyle Jamieson been the pick of the bowlers, scalping three wickets.