A resolute stand of unbeaten 113 runs for the fifth wicket powered India to a strong total of 258/4 when stumps were drawn on the opening day of the two-match Test series against New Zealand, being played at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Iyer scored a spectacular half-century on his Test debut to reach 75 not out at stumps, as he was batting in the rich company of star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who made 50 not out from exactly 100 balls.
The pair of Iyer and Jadeja revived the Indian innings from a precarious position on Thursday, after New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson struck thrice on a tough wicket for bowlers to reduce India at 145/4 in the second session. India were let down once again by their two senior most players in captain Ajinkya Rahane (35) and Cheteshwar Pujara (28), who failed to convert their starts and were dismissed in quick succession.
Earlier in the contest, luck continued to favour the Indian team as the stand-in captain Rahane won the toss and decided to bat. The pitch did not have any grass cover and also promised a lot of returns for the batsmen who applied themselves adequately.
But it was Jamieson who showed his plethora of talent once again with the new ball in foggy conditions at the Green Park Stadium, troubling both Indian openers Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill with dangerous movement off the seam as well as in the air.
Jamieson was rewarded duly when Agarwal nicked one behind to be caught by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell for a 28-ball 13, which brought India's famed No 3 Pujara at the crease. Pujara took his own time to settle down and look for runs, which eventually culminated in another innings full of promise but lacked returns.
India had produced a strong resistance after Jamieson got rid of Agarwal. Pujara and Gill, who is making a comeback into the side, added 61 runs for the second wicket in the first session. While Pujara was conservative in his approach with the bat, Gill did not miss any opportunity to hit the ball hard to collect plenty of runs. The right-handed India opening batsman was dismissed in the second session by Jamieson, who got one to move back into Gill as the ball took an inside edge and crashed into his wickets. Gill made 52 from 93 balls with five boundaries and a six.
Pujara struck his first boundary only on the 75th ball that he faced in the innings on Thursday afternoon, while being extremely cautious in his approach. The second boundary came soon after but the dependable India batsman was guilty of chasing one outside off stump from Tim Southee, trying to defend the ball with a wide gap between bat and pads, only to get caught by Blundell for 26 from 88 balls.
On his part, Rahane looked spectacular in some of the boundaries that he hit on Thursday afternoon. The senior India batsman, who is under tremendous pressure for his lack of big scores over the last 3-4 years, looked to be busy at the crease as he made his intent clear. But playing aggressively has its own perils, as Rahane got to learn later on in the day.
While Rahane got off to a positive start, there was some variable bounce on the first-day wicket at the Green Park Stadium which led to his dismissal. After playing a few strokes on the offside against Jamieson, Rahane misread the bounce of a delivery which took the inside edge of his bat and crashed into middle and leg stumps, ending his promising innings at 35 from 63 balls with six boundaries.
With the help of Southee, Jamieson had reduced India to 145/4 and it looked like the hosts would face troubles going past the 300-run mark. But the pair of Iyer and Jadeja teamed up strongly to thwart any challenge from New Zealand, denying them any opportunity of making further inroads in the batting lineup. Iyer and Jadeja both took the initiative of taking the attack to the opposition, adding on 113 runs unbeaten for the fifth wicket as India went to a strong position of 258/4 at the end of the play on Thursday.
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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