New Zealand heading towards a follow on – 1st Test vs. India

New Zealand first innings 5-106 (Kane Williamson 32, James Franklin 31*, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-30) trails India first innings 438 (Cheteshwar Pujara 159, MS Dhoni 73, Jeetan Patel 4-100) by 332 runs.

The Indian batsmen piled up massive runs in the first innings and their spinners crushed the batting of New Zealand  as the visitors are rushing towards a follow on.

India amassed 438 runs in the first innings and New Zealand managed 106 runs with five wickets in hand.

The second day’s play came to an end on Friday, August 24, 2012, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.

Ravichandran Ashwin - Deadly bowling for India
Ravichandran Ashwin – Deadly bowling for India

Earlier, India started the day at 307 runs for the loss of just five wickets after consuming 87 overs in the first innings. Cheteshwar Pujara held his end with a majestic 119 and MS Dhoni was at the other end at 29. The Black Caps initiated well and their bowlers gave away 14 mere runs in the first eight overs. Dhoni scored the first four of the day in the 96th over and Pujara had to wait until the 103rd over when he dispatched a couple.

Dhoni achieved his 25th Test fifty in the 105th over while Pujara attained his 150 two overs later with a four towards fine leg and lunch was taken after the 108th over as the home side reached 371 runs. The duo enhanced the score to 387 after adding 127 useful runs for the sixth wicket when the visitors got the first wicket of the day.  Cheteshwar Pujara was caught by James Franklin off Jeetan Patel for 159 scored from 306 balls with 1 six and 19 fours.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the next batsman who came in and gathered 11 runs in the 118th over with two fours and the score board displayed 400 runs in the same over as well. He added another 11 runs to the total with MS Dhoni who was gone after scoring 73 runs. Ashwin was the 9th batsman who went back to the pavilion for 37 and the entire Indian team was bowled out at 438 runs in 134.3 overs.

Jeetan Patel was the top wicket taker with four, Trent Boult held three whereas Chris Martin and Doug Bracewell held one wicket each.

New Zealand opened their innings with Brendon McCullum and the in-form batsman, Martin Guptill, who scored plenty of runs against the West Indies in the recently concluded series. The first started off well by getting a four on the first ball of the innings and the latter opened his account with a couple of runs on the 11th ball he faced. McCullum sent the ball rolling out of the fence twice in the seventh over and the score reached 25 after the over was concluded.

In the next over, MS Dhoni introduced the left arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha who got the first breakthrough instantly on the third ball when Brendon McCullum was caught by Virat Kohli at cover for 22 runs. The right arm off spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, was brought into the attack in the 11th over and got rid of Martin Guptill for just two runs when Kohli held his second catch at backward short leg.

The Kiwi batsmen found it hard to tackle the lethal bowling of Ashwin who got another two wickets of the important batsmen, Ross Taylor and Daniel Flynn. The visitors were reeling at 4-55 in 18.1 overs when Kane Williamson and James Franklin got together at the crease. None of the two batsmen took any risk and they kept on moving the score board with rare boundaries. They enhanced the score to 99 as Kane Wiiliamson was caught by Virender Sehwag off Ojha for 32 runs.

James Franklin was unbeaten for 31 and Kruger was unable to get a run as the Black Caps reached 106 in 42 overs with half of their side back in the dressing room.

The spinners of the home side were unplayable and grabbed all the five wickets which fell with Ravichandran Ashwin claiming three wickets while Pragyan Ojha held a couple.

India is in the driving seat in the first Test and will anticipate wiping off the tail early on the third day to force the follow on whereas New Zealand faces the difficult task of saving the game.


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