Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Latham, Young whittle away at the lead. The opening duo put on 72 by Tea on day two
The opening duo put on 72 by Tea on day two
In what turned out to be an attritional afternoon session, New Zealand went into the Tea break unscathed at 72 for 0, still trailing by 273 in the Kanpur Test.
After Ajaz Patel bagged the wickets of Ravi Ashwin and Umesh Yadav to wrap up India's innings for 345, the hosts would have hoped to make a few inroads. However, on a track where the occasional delivery is keeping low, Tom Latham and Will Young showed the required batting aptitude to wade through a tricky phase.
During the course of the session, the duo also faced a few hiccups. In the third over, Ishant Sharma rapped Latham on the pads and convinced the umpire to adjudge the batter LBW. Just that the southpaw got the decision overturned via the review system, with replays showing that he had eked out an inside edge.
Ajinkya Rahane then turned towards Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja to break the stubborn stand. Young, though, played with positive intent as he brought out the sweep and skipped down the track to collect boundaries. Latham too looked busy at the crease, as the pair also picked up runs in a diet of singles and twos. At that juncture, India had something to cheer about when Latham was given out LBW, only for the southpaw to review the decision successfully for the second time in the game. Replays clearly indicated an inside edge.
At the fag end of the session, Rahane also introduced Axar Patel into the attack but the opening pair negated the third spinner's threat to guide the side to Tea. Young in particular wasn't afraid to take the aggressive route against Axar as he picked up a couple more boundaries.
Earlier in the morning, Tim Southee and Shreyas Iyer had hogged the limelight. The experienced paceman bagged a five-wicket haul while Iyer completed the milestone of scoring a century on Test debut. Ravindra Jadeja, who shared a crucial alliance of 121 with Iyer, was the first of Southee's victims, with the southpaw chopping one onto the stumps. Wriddhiman Saha was Southee's next scalp. After holding his length back, Southee bowled the sucker delivery from wide of the crease to induce the ‘keeper-batter to edge one behind. Southee continued to bowl with discipline and was rewarded with the prized scalp of Iyer. The New Zealand spearhead wasn't done yet as he once again employed the three-quarter seam delivery that straightened on the angle to dislodge Axar Patel. Ashwin and Umesh then steered the home team to the break.
The morning session also belonged to Iyer. The middle-order batter played with intent at the start of the day and cracked a volley of shots. Iyer essayed the drive, flick, twinned with a few steers to keep the scorecard ticking over. He soon became the 16th Indian to reach the landmark of compiling a century on Test debut with a double off Kyle Jamieson. Iyer aptly removed his helmet and celebrated the milestone by kissing his Indian badge.
Brief scores: India 345 (Shreyas Iyer 105, Shubman Gill 52, Ravindra Jadeja 50; Tim Southee 5-69) lead New Zealand 72/0(Will Young 46*) by 273.
