India vs New Zealand: First Test - Hits and Misses
India are off to a great start in the three-match series against New Zealand as they won the first Test at Kanpur by 197 runs. It was a complete all-round performance from India as every member of the team contributed to the team’s success.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara’s twin fifties along with a 100-run partnership in both the innings, all-round show by Jadeja and Ashwin, Rohit Sharma’s crucial knocks and KL Rahul’s good starts were some of the positives for the hosts from the Test.
The visitors also had few players performing well but that couldn’t save them from losing by a huge margin. Mitchell Santner’s all-round show along with a decent show from Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Luke Ronchi with the bat were some of the bright spots for the Blackcaps in the first test.
Let us take a look at who all performed well and who all failed to set to set the stage on fire.
Hits:
Murali Vijay: 141 runs
Indian opener Murali Vijay has been on fire since returning into the playing XI after he was dropped during the Test series against West Indies. In the first test against New Zeland, the right-handed opener looked solid as he notched up half-centuries in both the innings.
Murali Vijay made sure that the Kiwi bowlers did not take advantage of the new ball and allowed KL Rahul to play his natural game. He was focussed throughout his innings and shared a couple of century partnerships with Cheteshwar Pujara, that set the tone in both the innings.
Vijay scored 65 off 170 balls in the first innings before getting out caught behind when he tried to cut a ball that was closer to his body. In the second innings, he faced the same number of balls and scored 76 before Santner trapped him in front of the stumps.