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Five Positives for team India from the 500th Test Match

India defeated New Zealand convincingly in the First Test match

Team India, having completely outplayed New Zealand in the first test match, emerged victorious in Kanpur, by a margin of 197 runs on Day 5 of the first test match, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The Indians, after recovering from a minor setback in the first innings, they never took their foot off the pedal and went to achieve an easy win, this being the 130th victory in this historic 500th test match.

The visitors showed some resolve in their performance, with their patient bowling efforts in the first innings. Williamson’s form in the Kiwi first innings was ominous and he will look to build on it after his failure in the second innings on Day 4. Mitchell Santner impressed with both bat and ball. Santner (71) and Luke Ronchi (80) batted with some grit in the second innings and went on to make half-centuries.

With these positives, one can say that all is not lost for the Kiwis, but they will need to step up big time in the coming matches to challenge the mighty Indians.

Team India, on the other hand, continued from where they left off in the Caribbean, with another impressive win under the new regime of captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble. There were a lot of positives for the home team in the test match.

Everyone played their role well and contributions from all around resulted in this resounding victory for the Indians. 

Here we take a look at five positives of India’s performance in the Kanpur Test:


#1 Ravichandran Ashwin continues to confound batsmen

Ashwin
Ashwin took 10 wickets in the match (Image Courtesy: BCCI Official)

R Ashwin, currently ranked 3rd in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers, continued his rich vein of form with the ball, picking four wickets in the first innings and six in the second; his nineteenth five-wicket haul in 37 tests.

In the process, he reached the 200 wicket mark in his test career, dismissing Kane Williamson in the fourth innings of the game. He became the second fastest to reach the milestone, in 37 test matches; only bettered by Australian Clarrie Grimmett, who achieved this milestone in 36 test matches, back in the 1930’s.

Ashwin carried on from where he left off in the West Indies tour, constantly troubling batsmen with his turn and bounce, deceiving the batsmen time and again. The way he adjusted his line to claim Williamson’s wicket after the second day’s play just goes to show his intelligence and also the amount of effort and hard work that is being put in by him to achieve these levels.

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