Mayank Agarwal waged a lone battle for India on the opening day of the second and final Test match against New Zealand, being played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, with a splendid 120 not out that pushed the home team’s total 221/4 at stumps on Friday.
The right-handed opening batsman single-handedly defied a probing New Zealand bowling attack to bring up his fourth Test century — first since November 2019 — to power India to a position of control in what is being played as the series-deciding contest between the top two teams in the world.
If Agarwal's century was the standout performance from the Indian camp on Friday, the Mumbai born Kiwi left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel rocked India in the middle stages on the first day to snaffle three wickets for no runs, as his victims included opener Shubman Gill, No 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and comeback India captain Virat Kohli.
But before it all began, the Kiwis were dealt with a jolt themselves early on in the day when their regular captain Kane Williamson was ruled out of the contest, owing to an elbow injury, which has troubled him for a while now.
India too made some sweeping changes in their playing XI, bringing back Kohli in place of their struggling vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, Jayant Yadav in place of star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj in place of the struggling veteran Ishant Sharma.
Inexplicably, the Indian cricket board decided to announce not one but three injuries moments before the start of the play on Friday. The lanky Ishant was discovered to have dislocated his left little finger during the last day of the Kanpur Test, Jadeja was reported to have suffered a right forearm injury in Kanpur whereas Rahane, who was under severe pressure for producing string of poor performances with the bat, was said to have sustained a minor left hamstring strain on the last day in Kanpur.
However, reports suggested otherwise as Rahane had trained with his India teammates and done a lot of other activities in order to prepare for the Test.
With Kohli back in the team and an in-form Shreyas Iyer occupying the No 5 slot, India looked set to dominate New Zealand on what was looking like a juicy yet batting friendly pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The opening pair of Agarwal and Shubman Gill added 80 runs for the first wicket before their association was broken by left-arm New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel. The Kiwi bowler got a delivery to spin sharply away from the right-handed Gill, who failed to keep it down as an edge carried all the way to the first slip.
Pujara has also been struggling for runs having scored his last Test century in January 2019. While the first day and a fresh wicket for a long haul provided Pujara with an opportunity to thwart the pressure which has been gradually building on him, the batsmen failed miserably to make it count.
Pujara decided to come down on a delivery that he would usually flick easily towards midwicket region on a regular day. But luck was to desert the India No 3 batsman on Friday as he not only missed connecting with the ball, it deflected from his pads on to the wickets to leave India struggling at 80/2.
The last time Kohli batted in a Test match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, he made a spectacular 235 against England. However, against New Zealand on Friday, Kohli failed to open his account when he was declared out leg-before on a delivery which was was pitched straight into the channel of Kohli’s off and middle stumps.
While Kohli put his foot down to defend the ball, he probably erred by not getting his bat in front of the pads. The ball, after seeing several replays, seemed to have smashed into Kohli’s pads after deflecting from his bad — an inside edge — which both the on field as well as third umpire failed to acknowledge.
Kohli and India were left baffled at the decision made by Anil Choudhary which had them reeling at 80/3 at one stage. The hero of Kanpur Test, Shreyas Iyer, did try to weather the storm in the company of Mayank but he too was removed by Ajaz Patel for a 43-ball 18.
While the wickets kept tumbling throughout the day around him, none of that had to have any effect on Mayank Agarwal. Desperate to make his opportunity count given that the Indian team will be embarking on an important tour of South Africa shortly, he produced plenty of headaches for the Indian camp as far as selection is concerned.
On a day when his compatriots failed to flourish against New Zealand bowling attack, Agrawal raised 120 not out from 246 balls with the help of 14 boundaries and three sixes to take India to a strong position of 221/4 at stumps, in the rich company of Wriddhiman Saha who was batting on 24 from 53 balls with three boundaries and one six.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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