New Zealand vs India 2020: 3 standout players from 1st Test
On Day 4 of the first Test match between New Zealand and India, the visitors, trailing by 44 runs - on a pitch that got considerably better for batting after the second day's play - lost their track and the Kiwis won the game quite easily by 10 wickets.
India ended their innings with 191 runs on the board, which meant the target for the Kiwis was just 9. The hosts won the game by 10 wickets and they took the lead in the two-match Test series.
Here, we are going to take a look at the three standout players from the Wellington Test.
#3 Kyle Jamieson
Kyle Jamieson, with his all-round displays on his debut, impressed one and all. The lanky fast bowler picked up 4 wickets in the first innings, which set the tone for the hosts and gave them an advantage over India.
To add to that, he also played a crucial knock for New Zealand in the second innings, scoring 44 runs from just 45 balls, with one four and four sixes. Jameison equalled the record of hitting most number of sixes batting at number 9 on debut as well. Furthermore, the Wellington pitch suited him as the Kiwi extracted bounce from the pitch, along with some seam movement that was troubling the batsmen.
All in all, it was a debut to remember for Jamieson and he would be looking to build on his good performance.
#2 Trent Boult
Trent Boult returned for the Test series against India and he showed his quality, both with the bowl and the bat. In the first innings, he troubled almost every Indian batsmen, although he picked up only 1 wicket. He scored a crucial 38 runs from 24 balls in the second innings, which powered the hosts past the 340 mark.
Then, he picked up 4 wickets in the third innings, with all of them being right-handers as Boult was troubling them with his trademark in-swingers. It was the Tim Southee and Boult show that ruled India in the third innings and Kane Williamson would be hoping that continues in the next Test.
Also see – IPL Players List
#1 Tim Southee
New Zealand's Tim Southee was absolute quality in the 1st Test as his out-swingers and brilliant lines and lengths put the Indian batsmen on the backfoot. He picked up 4 wickets in the first innings, to go along with a 5 wicket haul in the third innings.
He was also awarded the man of the match for his displays and it was thoroughly deserved. Whenever we see seaming conditions on hand, Southee is as deadly as anyone in the world and we saw that in Wellington.
During the ODI and the T20 series, Southee didn't have great a time as he wasn't looking dangerous with the ball, at all and the Indian batsmen were finding it easy to score against him. But the veteran Kiwi bounced back from his misfortunes in limited overs cricket and put in a man of the match performance in the 1st Test.