India collapsed to their lowest Test total on home soil after Matt Henry and William O’Rourke helped New Zealand dismiss the hosts for only 46 runs on the second day of the first match in Bengaluru.
After the opening day was washed out by rain, India immediately regretted their decision to bat first as seamers Henry and O’Rourke took centre stage. Henry claimed five for 15, while O’Rourke returned four for 22 to condemn Rohit Sharma’s side to their third lowest five-day total, only just surpassing the 36 they made in Australia in 2020 and 42 in England 50 years ago.
Rohit, Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan were all back in the pavilion with only 10 on the board, the latter two making ducks, before Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant – the only two batters to make double figures – steadied the ship with a stand of 21.
But from 31 for three, India were soon languishing on 34 for seven with KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin departing for ducks after Jaiswal made 13.
Pant went for a top score of 20 as Henry, who moved to 100 Test wickets, and O’Rourke cleaned up the tail in a remarkable passage of play that gave the Black Caps complete control.
