New Zealand ticked the right boxes after their captain Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to bowl first. The Kiwis skittled out the visitors for 242 runs and then finished with 63-0 to dominate the first day of the second Test in Christchurch. Kyle Jamieson, who is playing his second Test match, bowled great line and length to take five wickets.
India got off to a bad start as Mayank Agarwal was dismissed early. Trent Boult was able to get the ball move back into the right-hander and the Indian opener was wrapped in front of the wickets. Prithvi Shaw, who had a disappointing first Test, impressed with his stroke play and played his natural game of attacking anything that was loose.
Great work from New Zealand.
Shaw drove with class and scored his second Test fifty but the prodigy batsman could not convert his score into a substantial score as Tom Latham took a one-handed blinder at second slip. Subsequently, India lost two early wickets of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.
Kohli was set up brilliantly by Tim Southee who got the ball to move back into the right-hander after bowling the fourth and fifth stump line. Rahane was also drawn into the drive by Tim Southee and the outside edge was taken by Ross Taylor, at first slip.
Pujara and Hanuma Vihari then got India back into the contest as they added 81 runs for the fifth wicket alliance. However, Vihari was undone by Neil Wagner as he was dismissed at the stroke of tea. Subsequently, India lost their remaining five wickets for only 48 runs in the final session.
New Zealand openers did well to go unscathed as they added 63 runs in the 23 overs. Tom Blundell scored 29 runs whereas Tom Latham scored 27 runs.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the opening day of the second Test:
India should use Jasprit Bumrah as first change as we used to do. Umesh outswingers, Shami Inswingers will do well with new ball. #NZvIND
— Prashi Relangi (@prashirelangi) February 29, 2020
right now indian cricket could do with some wickets from bumrah and some runs from harmanpreet #NZvsIND #INDvSL
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) February 29, 2020
Virat Kohli gets heckled by a section of the crowd and he responds by mockingly gesturing towards them from second slip as if to say they’re drunk and tipsy even pretending to be wobbly on his feet to prove his point. All in good jest perhaps #NZvIND @cricbuzz
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 29, 2020
I rate NZ as the best batting side v the moving ball. They have some issues v bounce, but versus the moving ball? Currently the best #NZvIND
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) February 29, 2020
Pujara's reaction to his dismissal probably sums up India's day. pic.twitter.com/SnWKGHuzze
— Ashish Magotra (@clutchplay) February 29, 2020
For the umpteenth time
Steve Smith >>> Virat Kohli in the longest format.#INDvNZ— coffee crae (@AayushiRathi10) February 29, 2020
Pant and Jadeja picked ahead of Saha and Ashwin because they can also bat…when the ball moves, also bat counts for 2 boundaries each.. india changing grammer of test selections #NZvIND
— Rasesh Mandani (@rkmrasesh) February 29, 2020
#NZvIND #RishabhPant Waste of hope on rishabh pant.he deserved to play only ranji and domestic matches .he showing his poor batting chance after chance kl Rahul or shah deserves to be on squad……..
— Raju GM (@imrajuca) February 29, 2020
#NZvIND #RishabhPant
Fans , coaches , teammates giving tips and requesting to play a responsible knockRishab pant : pic.twitter.com/OQXIxYxV3L
— Witty Doc (@humourdoctor) February 29, 2020
@RishabhPant17 after playing 14 balls : #NZvIND #RishabhPant #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/gWFCXX6vo4
— Dr. Gavan Ahir (@_drgavan_) February 29, 2020
Very clear definition of roles in this New Zealand bowling attack. When the ball is moving around, Southee and Boult get the ball, when it does a bit less, Wagner is the man. Just one over out of 34 so far.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 29, 2020