India captain Rohit Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli did not see eye-to-eye during Day 1 of the 2nd Test against New Zealand in Pune on Thursday. Kohli and Rohit were at the opposite end of the stick when it came to India deciding whether or not to take a DRS against Devon Conway off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. Kohli tried to convince Rohit into not taking the review, but the India captain decided otherwise, went for it anyway and was left to rue the call after the umpire seemed to have made the correct decision.
The incident took place in the 25th over of the inning, right after Ravichandran Ashwin had dismissed Will Young for his second wicket of the day. Jadeja, coming over the wicket to a set Conway, rapped the batter on his pads. As the Indians went up in a collective appeal, the amount of turn after pitching assured the umpire it was not out. The fielders nearby, however, felt the other way round. Mostly Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan, who had earlier played a role in Ashwin and India picking up Young’s wicket.
Among the fielders, only Kohli seemed to have a different take on the matter. Certain the ball was missing leg, Kohli walked up to Rohit to talk him out of taking the DRS, but the skipper had made his mind any way. He signalled the T, only for India to lose their first review of the match. Simon Doull even highlighted on air “No Rohit, come on. Don’t take it. It’s missing leg,” but if only the commentators’ voice reached the captain on the ground.
New Zealand keep India at bay
Conway was batting on 38 when India lost their review. He went on to complete a half-century, scoring 76 off 141 balls with 11 fours. Ashwin finally got rid of Conway for his third wicket of the day, but it wasn’t before New Zealand had batted their way to a strong position of 138/2. The BlackCaps built on it even further, with Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell joining hands and adding a fifty-run partnership. All-rounder Rachin continued his stellar form from the previous Test, scoring a fifty and adding to his century in Bengaluru last week.
India had to wait for 16 overs before they finally ended New Zealand’s threatening partnership, with Washington Sundar getting the breakthrough. In news for all the wrong reasons – replacing Kuldeep Yadav as India’s third spinner – the all-rounder dismissed the dangerous-looking Rachin for 65
A shared session despite Conway, Rachin fifties
And here’s why. New Zealand seemed to be running away with the session unless Sundar struck not once but twice in quick succession. After Rachin’s wicket, India dealt New Zealand another blow with Sundar exploiting the big gate between Tom Blundell’s bat and pad for the ball to crash onto the stumps. From 197/3, New Zealand finished on 201/5 at tea with spinners beginning to gain assistance.
From there, Sundar gained in confidence of picking up back-to-back wickets. He went from strength to strength, en route to picking up his maiden Test five-wicket-haul and finishing with stellar figures of 7/59. New Zealand were bowled out for 259, after which India’s score read 16/1 at stumps, with captain Rohit enduring a duck.
