Bengaluru: Before the first ball was bowled in the three-match series against New Zealand, India started as the overwhelming favourites. After the end of Day 2 (after Day 1 was washed out), the Kiwis broke that notion and the spirit of the hosts with an utterly dominating performance at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Riding high on confidence after registering a record-extending 18th series win at home with a 2-0 whitewash of Bangladesh last week, India were dragged down from Cloud 9 in dramatic circumstances.
How things change in a matter of days.
The table toppers in the World Test Championship (WTC) table, who didn’t need to be at their best to overcome the Bangladeshi challenge, will need a herculean effort to get out of the fix they find themselves in after Stumps on Day 1.
Ahead of the first Test in Chennai, former Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha described the degree of difficulty of touring India by admitting that beating India in India is the biggest challenge in cricket.
Bangaldesh would find out how true their coach’s words were in the next two weeks after suffering a 0-2 series loss in Tests before slumping to a 3-0 whitewash in T20Is.
That’s why the position a visiting team finds themselves in on the opening day of the tour of India as that of New Zealand in Bengaluru, is nothing short of extraordinary.
The Kiwis are positioned handsomely at 180 for three in their first innings, already ahead by 134 runs heading into Day 3 courtesy of an astonishing display by the bowlers, who took just over a session to bundle India out for 46 all out in 31.2 overs.
It was a chastening day for India who crashed to their lowest-ever total in a Test at home and third-lowest overall, with five home batters not even managing to trouble the scorers.
Devon Conway (91) and Will Young (33) stitched a 75-run partnership after the early loss of Tom Latham (15) to lead a strong Kiwi reply.
India pay the price for a massive blunder
India were doomed from the moment Rohit Sharma chose to bat after winning the toss in overcast conditions. Torrential rain for the last few days in Bengaluru forced the pitch to remain under the covers, locking in all the moisture from the damp weather.
Bengaluru: India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the second day of the first Test cricket match between India and New Zealand, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Thursday. (PTI Photo)
It was a massive blunder on the part of the Indian team management who overlooked the conditions and the challenges they might pose to their batters.
In a way, India gifted the initiative to the Kiwis, who couldn’t believe their luck.
What’s more baffling was India’s decision to go with only two pacers and drop ace pacer Akash Deep, who impressed against Bangladesh, in favour of a spinner.
India’s batting crumble in dramatic circumstances
The fears came true as the Indian batting line-up struggled to negotiate the conditions against a rampant Kiwi attack which would have felt like bowling in home conditions, especially in the first session.
The Indian batting looked at sea against the Kiwi pacers as Rohit (2) Virat Kohli (0), Sarfaraz Khan (0), KL Rahul (0) Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) all went back to the pavillion before Lunch.
The score of 34 runs was the lowest at the fall of the 6th wicket for India on home soil since 1969.
India could only muster 12 runs in the second session and lost four remaining wickets in no time as the visiting pace attack continued to exploit the conditions.
All 10 Indian wickets were taken by the pacers with Matt Henry (5/15) and William O’Rourke (4/22) doing the majority of the damage while veteran Tim Southee (1/8) set the tone with the wicket of Rohit.
Rishabh Pant top-scored for the hosts with 20 off 49 balls while Jaiswal was the only other batter to reach double digits.
Despair for the Indian bowlers
Unlike in the Indian innings, the sun shone brightly when the Kiwis came into bat. The openers needed to carry on the momentum of the extraordinary effort of the bowlers, and Conway answered the call with a scintillating knock.
The left-hander first added 67 runs for the opening wicket with his skipper before stitching a 75-run stand with Young for the second as Kiwi batters piled more misery on the Indians.
Conway brought up his fifty in just 54 balls with a maximum off Ravichandran Ashwin, who exacted revenge by castling him a few overs later.
Bengaluru: New Zealand’s Devon Conway plays a shot on the second day of the first test cricket match between India and New Zealand, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru. (PTI Photo)
The pitch had eased out and not even Jasprit Bumrah could work his magic on a track that looked unplayable a few hours earlier.
All three Kiwi wickets fell to Indian spinners as Kuldeep Yadav, Jadeja and Ashwin managed to find some purchase from the Chinnaswamy.
Is their a way back for India?
India need a herculean effort first from their bowlers and then from the batters in the second innings to stand a chance of saving the first Test.
With a lead of 134, New Zealand will want to bat only once in the Test. Meanwhile, India need to shake off the horrors of Day 2 and regroup quickly to wrap the innings up quickly and produce a far better batting display in the second essay.
