New ball did the trick for us: O’Rourke

William O’Rourke, the 23-year-old right-arm fast bowler playing his first Test match in India, said the new ball did the trick for India as they fought back to take control of the match. The pacer said he was a bit hot and cold with the ball till the evening session, said the ball was doing a bit, and admitted he was a bit lucky as Pant chopped onto his wicket.

“Yeah, I think overall for me, I’ve been pretty streaky, pretty hot and cold with the ball. I think Pant and Sarfaraz obviously batted very well for a long time there. But that second new ball came on and started doing a little bit for us. Credit to Timmy (Tim Southee) getting that first breakthrough and then lucky enough to get a wee chop on there to sort of give us a bit of momentum going through,” said O’Rourke.

He said the New Zealand were surprised a bit by the fact the wicket offered more pace than that they expected. “(It is) my first time here, so probably had a little bit more balance but more pace than what we probably expected coming over here, which obviously suits a bowler like me. So far I’ve really enjoyed it,” he added.

He said the New Zealand bowlers had good preparation before they left for India and he learned a few things by prepping with experienced pacers Matt Henry and Tim Southee.