India finished day one of the first test match against New Zealand 258/4, thanks to an impressive unbeaten partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer in Kanpur.
The Kanpur pitch was challenging to bat on with India’s run rate limited to 3.07, but opener Shubman Gill impressed to reach 52 from 93 balls before being bowled by Kyle Jamieson.
Jamieson impressed with the ball to take three wickets before Iyer and Jadeja reaffirmed India’s dominance with an unbroken stand of 113 runs to ensure the home side were on top heading into day two.
This is the first of a two match series with the second game set to get underway in Mumbai on December 3 after India ran out 3-0 winners in the T20 leg of the tour.
Ajinkya Rahane, who deputised for the absent Virat Kohli as captain, won the toss and chose to bat on what appeared a fairly difficult Kanpur pitch.
Rahane was not only without Kohli but was also missing Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as India made the decision to only have five specialist batsmen.
In the last ball of the seventh over Jamieson broke the opening partnership to earn his first wicket in Asia, drawing the edge of Agarwal which was well caught by Tom Blundell behind the stumps.
India recovered well to build a second wicket partnership when Gill was bowled by an in-swinging delivery that found the gap between bat and pad before striking the stumps to leave the home side 82-2.
Less than 10 overs later Tim Southee got involved with the wickets as his fairly full delivery drew a thin outside edge of Cheteshwar Pujara, who was set to feature for Gloucestershire in the 2020 season prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Rahane and Iyer managed to create a partnership of 39 before the captain was the next victim of Jamieson as he chopped onto his own stumps from an unthreatening delivery.
Then came the resurgence from the home side, Iyer and Jadeja both scored at a good rate to turn the tide in India’s favour.
Iyer who was making his test debut, showed confidence attacking the spin, finishing the day with nine boundaries including two sixes, one of which came in the final over as he swiped Somerville deep into the stands.
The 113 run partnership gives India a good platform to build from, but with the new ball only a matter of overs away the Kiwis will be hoping for swing from Jamieson on day two.
