India v New Zealand, 1st Test, Day 2 – Five Talking Points

Swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed a fantastic five-wicket haul to reduce New Zealand to 128/7 and put India firmly ahead in the contest at the end of Day 2 in the ongoing second Test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

India resumed on its overnight score of 239/7 and put up a respectable 316 on the board riding on Wriddhiman Saha’s fighting fifty. The visitors, in response, were lacklustre with the bat and could not deal with the swing and accuracy of Bhuvneswar Kumar.

1.Wriddhiman Saha leads revival:

Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha helped India regain its initiative with his unbeaten knock of 54. Saha, who ended the day on 14 runs, batted brilliantly with the lower order to take the team total past 300 runs.

Saha survived a challenging spell from the New Zealand seamers and stitched a 41-run stand for the 8th wicket with fellow overnight batsman Ravindra Jadeja. Later, he batted aggressively with last man Mohammad Shami and forged a 35 runs much to the annoyance of the visitors.

2. NZ batting order crumbles badly:

New Zealand batsmen looked completely unprepared to face the India fast bowling battery. The spin fear would have been lurking in the minds of the visitors after Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja floored them at Kanpur. But, little did they know that that it will the Indian fast bowling attack that will do the damage to them at Eden Gardens.

After bowling out India for 316, the New Zealanders lost their top three batsmen in no time and were reduced to 23/3. Ronchi and Taylor did some damage control but weren’t fully successful as Bhuvneshwar Kumar began making quick inroads in their batting order and triggered a collapse to reduce New Zealand to 128/7 at the end of the day two.

3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fifer:

It was Bhuvneshwar Kumar show today from the lunch session. Kumar began fantastically disturbing the stumps of the opener Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls to push the New Zealanders on the back foot and end the lunch session with figures of 2/20. Upon returning, he added three more Black Caps batsmen to his tally and returned to the pavilion with a five-wicket haul to his name.

After returning from the break, he immediately made Ross Taylor return to the pavilion. A couple of overs later, Kumar brought more trouble to the opposition after he claimed wickets off consecutive deliveries to remove Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry and complete his five-wicket haul. Henry’s wicket also gave him a hat-trick chance but he was less fortunate the next delivery and missed the opportunity.

Bhuvi extracted maximum purchase out of the pitch. He benefitted from the invariable bounce and the seam movement he was able to get from the pitch.

4. Gambhir in for Pujara:

Cheteshwar Pujara, who struck a sold half-century in the first innings, could not take the field today due to illness. A team official said Pujara was “under the weather”.

“He is a bit under the weather. He has been advised rest by the physio. He will be okay by this evening,” the official said. Gautam Gambhir, who is on his comeback, was called in as his substitute

Gambhir fans would have been happy to see him on the field even though as a substitute. He fielded briefly in the second session. However, he did not have a good time as he dropped Ronchi off Mohammad Shami’s bowling in the 14th over.

5. Needs special efforts from Black Caps

The visitors are currently trailing by 188 runs and would probably need a special batting effort from BJ Watling and Jeetan Patel to help New Zealand overhaul India’s first innings total of 316.

Both the men will have to emulate what Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner did in the last game to reduce the runs gap. Failure to do so would make Kiwis give away a huge advantage to the Indians on day three. And, with the pitch showing uncertain behavior, it will be tough for them to come out and chase a huge score later on.