India vs New Zealand 2024/25, IND vs NZ 1st Test Match Report, October 16 – 20, 2024

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India vs New Zealand 2024/25, IND vs NZ 1st Test Match Report, October 16 – 20, 2024

Innings New Zealand 402 (Ravindra 134, Conway 91, Southee 65, Jadeja 3-72) leads India 46 by 356 runs

Frustration continued for India an hour after lunch as New Zealand added 57 to the 299 they had already scored at the break. This deficit is very clear in whatever India was able to overcome to win the Test.

India started the session with the new ball, and the ball kept going through Tim Southee, but the breakthrough came with the slow ball after he reached the 93rd over and scored 65. he managed to get a tough call to take the wicket, he was the last man on 134 but not before hitting two sixes in the session to take New Zealand to 350. they lost their last wicket, which left enough time for them to force the result they wanted. The last wicket added 18 without Will O’Rourke scoring a run. Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav finished with three wickets each.

Lunch – India show early promise, before NZ come back

India kept themselves in the Test with a steady swing for just over 90 minutes, but Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee blew them away in the last 45 before lunch. India took four wickets to add just 53 runs, but Ravindra and Southee then added an unbeaten 112 for the eighth wicket, currently the second-fastest partnership to score 100-plus against India, going into the meal noon leading by 299 runs. Ravindra raced to his second Test century, and second international century in the city of his roots.

When you are bowled out for 46 and start the day 134 behind with seven wickets to go, you need everything to go your way. After a loose first ball, the fast bowling duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah kept New Zealand honest with straight swings and regular low strikes. They claimed a wicket apiece before Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry struck in a manner that suggested panic and lack of confidence in their defence.

However, Southee, with 89 Test sixes to his name and a penchant for swing, batted calmly to keep Ravindra company. Ravindra kept trusting his partner even though the previous two batsmen missed straight balls at middle stump. There was a time in the partnership when Southee faced 16 off 19 balls. However, Southee managed to survive, refusing to throw his bat at it.

Ravindra continued to grow in confidence, never getting caught in the crease, playing right-back or meeting the ball on the half-volley. From the start of the 70th over to the end of the 80th, he improved from 48 from 87 to 104 from 125. He continued the day with 22 for 34, taking a boundary off Siraj’s full ball in the first ball, then respected the bowling as Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell provided an outside edge each for two quicks.

Phillips swung like there was no future, got a six, but gave way to a straight full ball from Jadeja. Henry managed two fours before losing his middle stump to Jadeja. Southee got off to a rough start, but managed to survive.

In the 70th over, Ravindra skipped to Kuldeep Yadav to lift him over his head to reach his fifty. At that time he felt good about it and started pushing his goal. The second and fourth in the over went well past the 200 mark. Then Kuldeep skips Southee for another four. He was 4 for 18 at the time.

Attacked from the moment he started bowling on day two, R Ashwin bowled a full toss in his first over of the day, which Ravindra hit over midwicket for a six. The floodgates were well and truly open. Ravindra was playing the length of the bowlers when Southee waited 39 balls to attempt his first six, driving Ashwin, whose figures at lunchtime read 16-1-94-1.

India started now to wait for the new ball, but soon they were winding down the game so they could go back and regroup at lunchtime. They didn’t even take the new ball when it was available. One more over bowled with the old ball before lunch was Southee’s four and six for 92, which took him past Virender Sehwag in the all-time list of six wickets. There are only five men left in front of him.

The session, however, belonged to Ravindra, who took his time before taking the game to the spinners.

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