India Cornered at Home, Set to Break a 20-Year Record
India is struggling to contain New Zealand at home, with Rohit Sharma and his team unable to turn the tide. Trailing 0-1 in a three-Test series, India is also cornered in the second match. Over the past two decades, India hasn’t lost a Test series on home soil, but that record seems set to break this time.
Thanks to spinner Mitchell Santner’s bowling and captain Tom Latham’s batting, New Zealand is on course for a strong lead in the second Test against India.
At the end of the second day, New Zealand holds a lead of 301 runs with five wickets in hand. In the first innings, Santner claimed 7 wickets for 53 runs. Latham’s 86 in the second innings helped secure a large lead for New Zealand.
On the first day of the Test in Pune, which began yesterday, Indian spinner Washington Sundar’s impressive bowling limited New Zealand to 259 runs. Sundar took 7 wickets for 59 runs. In response, India scored 16 runs for 1 wicket at the end of the day.
On the second day, India’s batting performance faltered. Batsmen like Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant struggled against Santner and fellow spinner Glenn Phillips’ turns. India lost 7 wickets for just 103 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill scored 30, Kohli 1, Pant 18, first-Test centurion Sarfaraz Khan 11, and Ravichandran Ashwin 4.
Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar tried to ease the pressure with a 33-run partnership for the eighth wicket, but Jadeja was dismissed for 38, ending India’s innings at 156. Sundar remained not out with 18 runs.
Santner took 7 wickets, achieving five or more wickets in an innings for the first time in his 29-match Test career. Phillips claimed 2 wickets.
With a lead of 103 runs, Latham fought alone against India’s bowlers in the second innings, looking on course for a century after reaching his half-century.
However, he was dismissed as the last batter of the day for 86 runs off 10 boundaries with the team score at 183. In New Zealand’s second innings, Tom Blundell was not out with 30, Will Young scored 23, and Daryl Mitchell scored 18. Sundar took 4 wickets for India.
Earlier, in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test, India was bowled out for their lowest home score of 46. In response, New Zealand posted 402 runs, putting Rohit, Pant, and the team behind by a massive 356 runs. Eventually, India lost that Test by 8 wickets.
