NZ vs Ind 2nd Test Day 1 Review: Kiwis edge out India with early honours at Hagley Oval

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New Zealand continued to probe India after ending the first day in a commanding position in Christchurch. While the Men In Blue turned up with a better batting performance compared to the first test, the effort was far from best as the side surrendered a commanding position. 

Kiwis spurned up an all pace attack to unleash at the vicious Hagley Oval and unsurprisingly elected to bowl after winning the toss. The openers, who arguably are in the toughest spot of all, took the side to a rapid start.

But the inevitable occurred soon as Mayank Agarwal was dismissed for just 7. Producing plenty of starts over the course of the tour, Prithvi Shaw finally managed to convert one into a landmark figure by getting to his first overseas fifty.

After his twin failures in the first test, Cheteshwar Pujara applied himself to notch up his half-century as well. Shaw was set back into the hut soon after his fifty by newbie Jamieson, whose dream start keeps stretching.

Jamieson was just getting started as he managed to scalp the wicket of Pujara to end his vigilant run lasting a whopping 140 deliveries. Virat Kohli’s woeful tour continued with yet another failure, the skipper was trapped in front by red ball specialist Tim Southee.

The middle-order collapse included the dismissal of the vice-captain before Hanuma Vihari prevented further blushes with a half-century of his own. From 192-4, the side tumbled to 242 all-out courtesy of a fifer from Jamieson, with only minimal contributions from the lower order comprising of Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant and the tail.

With just less than a session left to play, the New Zealand openers made their way to the middle to see out the new ball. Tom Blundell and Tom Latham were at ease against the pace battery of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav, with the latter replacing Ishant Sharma in the eleven.

The Tom duo proved to be more than the pacers could handle as they ended the day with all of their wickets intact and 179 runs behind India’s first innings total.

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