Kolkata: India’s decision to win the toss and bat first on a newly laid wicket at Eden Gardens has not clicked as the hosts finished Day 1 of the second test match at Eden Gardens on 239/7. Cheteswar Pujara was the top scorer with 87 runs while Ajinkya Rahane also scored 77 runs. The two put together a partnership of 141 runs for the fifth wicket. At stumps, Saha is batting on 14 runs while Jadeja is yet to open his account.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and did not hesitate to bat first. India made two changes from the side that played in the first test at Kanpur. Shikhar Dhawan replaced an injured KL Rahul while Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in for Umesh Yadav. The Kiwis were dealt a blow as their captain Kane Williamson was ruled out due to illness.
India was reduced to 46/3, with both openers and Virat Kohli back in the hut. Shikhar Dhawan was the first batsman to get out as the left hander dragged a short ball on to his stumps. He managed just 1 run. Next to follow Dhawan was Murali Vijay who was caught by Watling of the bowling of Henry. He made 9 runs. There was a loud cheer from the partisan crowd that gathered today at the Eden Gardens as Virat Kohli walked in. But the Indian captain took a dreaded shot that brought his downfall. Chasing a wide ball outside, Kohli gave a chance to Latham fielding at wide gully of the bowling of Trent Boult. Latham timed his jump to perfection as he took a blinder to send Virat back for 9 runs. India was struggling at 46/3 at that time. Pujara and Rahane took the score to 57/3.
After a wicket less second session, India was banking on Pujara and Rahane to continue the domination. And they did that to a certain extent. They both batted patiently to take the score to 136/3 at Tea.
Pujara looked well on course to reach his first hundred at Eden Gardens, but fell short by just 13 runs. It was his third fifty in a row. The most striking aspect of his innings today was the way he handled the Kiwi spinners stepping down at times.
Partnering him at the other end was Rahane, who did really well to soak the pressure coming in about 10 minutes into tea. Post it, he was a different batsman altogether. He brought up his fifty earlier in the final session as India promised to be cruising along. But just then Pujara fell, courtesy a lazy uppish drive that went straight to Martin Guptill at short cover. Rohit Sharma’s dismissal for 2 soon after didn’t help either. He had injured his shoulder while trying to dive in after a mix-up with Rahane and soon lobbed a bat pat to short-fine leg.
With Pujara back, Rahane needed to take India into the safe zone, but once he fell leg-before to Jeetan Patel leaving India at 200/6, worries crept in. India could have sent in either Ravindra Jadeja or Wriddhiman Saha at that stage, but Kohli persisted with Ashwin. The move seemed to be working for a while with Ashwin carting three fours off Mitchell Santner, but that didn’t last. Henry rapped him on the pads just at the stroke of stumps to tilt the favour back to the visitors.
India will have to bat well tomorrow morning to post a decent total in the first innings.
Brief Scores: India 239/7 (Pujara 87, Rahane 77; Matt Henry 3/35) at stumps on Day 1.