India play into New Zealand hands

BLUES Visitors pay for poor shot selection on a green top as Jamieson leads pacers’ charge with maiden five-wicket haul

CHRISTCHURCH: India batsmen showed intent but their reckless shot selection took them only as far as 242 on an eventful opening day of the second Test against New Zealand, here on Saturday.

Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries to take the fight to t he r i val c amp. However, Hanuma Vihari’s (55 off 70 balls) dismissal at the stroke of tea tilted the scale in New Zealand’s favour as they gained a clear upper hand by stumps.

Kyle Jamieson (5/45) in an inspired post-tea spell blew away the middle and lower order to finish with his maiden five-wicket haul in only his second Test.

The hosts ended the day at 63 for no loss with both the Toms— Latham (27*) and Blundell (29*) hardly troubled by Indian pacers.

The pitch will be best for batting on days two and three which means that for Virat Kohli and his men, the catch-up game starts from the second day itself as ignominy of a 0-2 series loss looms large.

On a green top, three India batsmen showed that scoring runs wasn’t difficult.

Shaw’s lunging drive after his second half-century in Tests and Vihari and Pujara’s ill-timed pull shots were testimony that their dismissals were more about profligacy than New Zealand’s bowling.

Rishabh Pant, who has been preferred over an accomplished Wriddhiman Saha, purely on batting skills, played a lazy shot to find his stumps rattled.

From 194 for four with a standard first innings total of 350 looking imminent, India lost five wickets for 22 runs in a period of six overs and it could well have a decisive impact in the final outcome of the contest.

Jamieson, in his post-tea spell, got rid of Pujara, Pant and Umesh Yadav in quick succession as India lost a golden opportunity to press home the advantage.

The 32 boundaries and three sixes with a run-rate of 3.84 in 63 overs will not able to tell the story how Indians fluffed their lines during the day.

The immensely talented Shaw