A spectacular day’s play in Bengaluru ended with the visitors 134 runs in the lead
Sidharth Monga17-Oct-20244:49
46 all out: decoding India’s batting collapse
It was well worth the wait for New Zealand. On their seventh day of Test cricket in India this year, New Zealand finally got on the field, on day two in Bengaluru, and lost a good toss. Once they were denied their wish to bat first under overcast skies, on a pitch that was covered all week, New Zealand’s seam bowlers were all over India with deadly accurate bowling, bowling them out for 46, their lowest score at home and third-lowest overall.This was the fourth-lowest first-innings score in Test history after a side had chosen to bat. Riding on Devon Conway’s enterprising 91 in conditions that had quietened down a bit, New Zealand had attained a lead of 134 by stumps. They had seven wickets in hand.There is a good chance both sides misread the conditions. India won the toss, picked three spinners and batted first, trusting the dry nature of the pitch more than the overcast conditions and the wet lead-up to the Test. New Zealand had hedged their bets: even though they wanted to bat first, they played three seamers, including the king of these conditions, Matt Henry, who ended up with a five-for that took him to 100 Test wickets.It was apparent as early as the first two overs that the ball was moving more than either of the sides expected. New Zealand started off with just the two slips but reinforced the cordon. India were now reacting instinctively and not via pre-series mental preparation as they showed in challenging conditions in England in 2021.And the instinct was to counterattack. Jaiswal played the first loose drive to just the 12th ball he faced even while Tim Southee had been challenging him. Rohit Sharma survived an extremely close lbw shout off Henry on umpire’s call but soon tried to charge Southee and loft him back over his head. The wobble-seam ball jagged back in to take the top of leg stump.3:32
Did India err in opting to bat?
With Shubman Gill missing because of a stiff neck, Virat Kohli moved up to No. 3 for the first time since 2016. While it was brave of Kohli to move up, the batter perhaps best suited to seaming conditions is the current No. 6, KL Rahul, who is the only Asian opener with centuries in Australia, England and South Africa.As it turned out, Kohli didn’t get a chance to make a mistake or show application as the ninth ball he faced jagged back in and kicked at him thanks to Will O’Rourke’s height. Glenn Phillips at leg slip took the catch off the glove diving forward, his presence there suggesting a plan.Another batting-order surprise followed as Sarfaraz Khan walked in at No. 4, at least one slot higher than the one he takes in domestic cricket. It took him just three balls to attempt an aerial drive on the up, shanking it for a sensational catch by Conway at mid-off, diving to his right and taking it well behind his body. A just reward for Henry, who drew an average seam movement of 1.3 degrees in the first session.Rain brought a brief halt at 13 for 3 in 12.4 overs without a single boundary. India enjoyed some luck after the break with Tom Blundell dropping a sitter from Rishabh Pant and other loose shots not resulting wickets.Eventually the fourth wicket came not off a testing delivery, but a middled cut shot by Jaiswal, who fell for 13 off 63, out of which he was in control of just 42. The luck had turned, and a flurry of wickets followed either side of lunch. Rahul nicked O’Rourke down the leg side six minutes before lunch, and Ravindra Jadeja followed with an extravagant flick that produced a leading edge to what proved to be the last ball of the session.Henry produced a snorter immediately after lunch, taking the shoulder of R Ashwin’s bat from a good length. Pant survived the hat-trick ball, but two balls later he nicked Henry to second slip. Again Henry was on a good length and managed to draw seam movement. Bowling on a good length was New Zealand’s hallmark: they stayed in the 6-8m about half the time, and while they had incentive to go to 5m, they rarely ever went to 4m from where they could be driven.Matt Henry took five in the innings to complete 100 career wickets•BCCI
Henry wasn’t done yet, though. He put in a full-speed sprint to his left from fine leg to give O’Rourke his fourth wicket, Jasprit Bumrah not fancying hanging around after one kicked at him and hit him. Henry had substitute Michael Bracewell to thank for completing his five-for as Bracewell dived to his left at gully to get Kuldeep’s wicket.It was the perfect storm for India. The sun was out as they came out, and while the ball still moved, it wasn’t as threatening as in the morning. India’s innings lasted just 31.2 overs with average seam movement of 0.87 degrees. Their bowlers could extract just about 0.65 degrees in the first 31.2 overs, by which time New Zealand had reached 111 for 1. New Zealand played only 36 false shots in that period; India were bowled out to 75.Conway, especially, drew home the advantage during this period. India’s selection meant they had to go to spin early, and Conway attacked Ashwin before the ball had a chance to start helping the spinners. He drove anything too full from the quicks, and swept, reverse-swept and charged at the spinners. It didn’t help that India missed three chances in the slips: Rahul lost the ball once, and Rohit missed one half chance and one to his right off Jadeja. Pant, too, missed two stumpings. None of the beneficiaries survived till stumps.Rohit made up for it with a gully for Jadeja, which drew a big sweep from Will Young, resulting in a catch at short fine leg. Conway had bossed Ashwin with the new ball, but was bowled nine short of a hundred when trying to welcome him back with a reverse-sweep. The ball was now misbehaving enough for the spinners to provide some justification for India selecting three of them.It also underlined the importance of fourth-innings-proofing the lead for New Zealand. Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell took the first steps towards that by surviving the last 10.5 overs of the day.