O’Rourke strikes leave India at 34/6 at lunch on 2nd day
New Zealand pacers, led by the relentless William O’Rourke (3/13), exploited gloomy conditions to the hilt to reduce a clueless India to a disastrous 34 for six at lunch after a truncated first session on the second day of the opening Test here on Thursday.
Rishabh Pant (15, 41b) was at crease after Ravindra Jadeja (0) was dismissed at the stroke of lunch. The first day of this match was called off due to rain.
Once the rain stayed away, Rohit Shama opted to bat under a grey sky and none of the Indian batters looked comfortable including the skipper himself.
He was the first batter to depart as well. After nudging around for 15 balls, Rohit (2) wanted to free himself with an expansive drive but Tim Southee’s wobble seam delivery that cut back appreciably disturbed his stumps.
Before delving further into Indian batters’ turmoil, Matt Henry’s opening spell needs to be mentioned in block letters as the Kiwi pacer troubled them no end.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who stood a foot outside the crease to nullify swing, was all at sea against Henry.
There were several play-and-miss occasions in his innings, as one would expect in these conditions, but the left-hander showed some spunk to stay in the middle.
Virat Kohli (0) walked in at the rather unfamiliar No. 3 slot, but his stay was snapped after nine balls.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham introduced O’Rourke and the pacer immediately netted the big fish.
Kohli looked to jab a climbing delivery to the on side but he was not in control as the ball deflected off his gloves en route to Glenn Phillips at leg gully.
Sarfaraz Khan, who came into the eleven after a stiff neck forced Shubman Gill to sit out of this match, was in no mood to hang around even when the ball was moving around.
On the third ball he faced, the Mumbai man tried to slap Henry over mid-off but Devon Conway made a leap of faith to grab the ball, leaving Henry in a fit of laughter.
At 10 for three, it was even an understatement to say that India were in danger, and the home side required a massive lift from there.
Perhaps, a short rain-break from 10.27 am to 11.05 am too helped India to gather themselves a wee bit.
Pant, who was dropped on 7 by stumper Tom Blundell off O’Rourke, got India’s first boundary of the day in the fifth ball of the 12th over, a mash through the covers off the same bowler.
But Jaiswal’s patience did not pay off (13, 63b) as he fell to O’Rourke, as Ajaz Patel completed a stunning catch at point off a rasping cut shot by the batter.
The dismissals of KL Rahul (0), caught down the leg side by Blundell off O’Rourke, and Jadeja pushed India further to the wall, leaving Pant to relaunch rescue mission in the second session.
