The first Test of the two-match Test series between New Zealand and India had its moments on the first day at Basin Reserve in Wellington. Team India struggled to go about their business against the quality New Zealand pacers as they ended the Day 1 with 122/5 in 55 overs with rain playing spoilsport. The debutant Kyle Jamieson was the pick of the bowlers as he picked three wickets to his name.
Jamieson dismissed the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Hanuma Vihari for cheap scores. Trent Boult and Tim Southee bagged one wicket each. India’s opening batsman Mayank Agarwal put up a decent fight at the top but he was dismissed on 34 by pace spearhead Trent Boult.
Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant brought the situation under control and are unbeaten on 38 and 10 respectively. It was then rain which forced officials to call off the day’s play. However, it was quite a remarkable day at the office for New Zealand as they dismantled half of India’s batting line-up.
Kyle Jamieson reveals the masterplan behind dismissing Virat Kohli:
The Auckland-born pacer, who is currently tallest, among international cricketers impressed everyone by picking three for 38 on his Test debut. The highlight of his bowling spell came when he picked the prized wicket of Virat Kohli as the latter was dismissed for just two runs.
“He’s (Virat Kohli) a pretty good batter and such a key to their line-up. To get him early was massive for us. To get a couple (including Pujara) early was where the emotion came from, certainly pretty special,” said Jamieson.
Ahead of the match, Kohli’s issues outside the off-stump was the much-talked subject and Kiwi bowlers got some ideas to ruffle Kohli’s feathers. Jamieson generated a fair bit of bounce to outsmart Kohli during the passage of play.
“He’s scored runs all around the world so to try and nitpick that would be not the smartest. With the assistance of the pitch, it was how we would try to make him play and he’s so strong on the stump line. I probably missed a little bit but managed to get the healthy edge I tried to keep it simple during the last few weeks,” he added.
“My role is to make them play and with that extra bounce bring them forward. There was a lot of assistance with pace and bounce and swing and seam. That simplifies was my gameplan to try to hit a good area. I stayed pretty relaxed which helped,” Jamieson said at the end of day’s play.
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