File image of Virat Kohli.© BCCI/Sportzpics

Matt Henry and William O’Rourke picked nine wickets collectively to bowl out India for just 46 on day two of first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. With this, India have now recorded their lowest total at home and third lowest Test score overall. This was the first time in 91 years (since India’s first home Test in 1931) that they scored less than 50 in an innings. Under overcast condition, Henry exhibited great control on line and length to pick 5-15 and also reached the landmark of 100 Test wickets. O’Rourke, playing in his first Test in India, made a fantastic impression with his awkward bounce and mixing of lengths to pick 4-22 while veteran pacer Tim Southee took a scalp.

For India, right from them electing to bat first amidst downpour threats, things backfired spectacularly. With no grass on the pitch, they picked three spinners for the first time in this season, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj being the only pacers.

But with conditions heavily favouring an accurate New Zealand bowling line-up and backed up brilliantly by their fielders, India didn’t show the desired batting application to grind it out against swing or seam and fell without doing much. Only Rishabh Pant (20) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) reached double figures in a sorry Indian batting show laced with five ducks.

Captain Rohit Sharma was far from his fluent best and even survived an lbw appeal on umpire’s call off Matt Henry. But in a bid to step out against a masterly Tim Southee, Rohit was castled through the gate while going for a big drive against the inswinger.

Virat Kohli’s surprising promotion to number three, after Shubman Gill was ruled out due to neck stiffness, earned him vociferous chants from the sparse crowd at his adopted home ground.

But it was brought to a quick end when O’Rourke got extra bounce on a nip-backer which Kohli looked to defend, but it took the glove edge to forward leaping Glenn Phillips at leg-gully, as he departed for a nine-ball duck.

More trouble followed India as Sarfaraz Khan tried to counterattack with a forceful lofted drive, but ended up mis-hitting off Henry to Devon Conway at mid-off, who stuck out his right hand and took a stunning catch. Pant was a curious mix of caution and aggressiveness, including trying to reverse-sweep off Henry, before rain brought a halt to the proceedings.

After play resumed at 11:05am, Pant and Jaiswal got a boundary each to try and rebuild India’s innings. But O’Rourke struck again as Jaiswal went hard on the cut and was caught brilliantly by backward point diving low to his left.

One brought two for the pacer as he strangled KL Rahul, supposed to bat at three, down leg for a six-ball duck, and was followed by Ravindra Jadeja being bizarrely too early into the flick and gave a high leading edge to backward point off Henry as New Zealand walked off the field as the happier side at lunch.

Post lunch, Henry struck on the very first ball by catching shoulder edge of Ravichandran Ashwin and the ball lobbed to gully. He then enticed Pant into tentative defence and edged to second slip. O’Rourke had Bumrah heaving to long leg, before Henry ended the Indian batting horror show by having Kuldeep Yadav caught at gully to cap off a brilliant time for New Zealand with the red cherry.

Rohit Sharma‘s dismal run continued as he was dismissed for just 2 on Day 2 of the first Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru on Thursday. The Indian cricket team captain did not look comfortable on a pitch that provided a lot of support to the fast bowlers and he was ultimately casted by Southee. Rohit was completely beaten by the swing of the delivery and it crashed into the stumps to end Rohit’s short stay at the crease. Rohit did not cross the 30-run mark in both Test matches against Bangladesh and his latest disappointing show led to a lot of trolling on social media.

Sarfaraz Khan and Kuldeep Yadav come into India’s playing eleven as captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand.

Rohit selfless Sharma gone .#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/bGRsWu8uYK

— Ayan (@ayan3955) October 17, 2024

With rain washing out day one’s play on Wednesday, it means the Test series opener has effectively become a four-day affair.

Rohit Sharma is completely finished. Like this tweet if you want him to retire ASAP. pic.twitter.com/HzUYcSMcm4

— ꜱɪᴅ ♡ (@1CricketOpinion) October 17, 2024

After winning the toss, Rohit said Shubman Gill isn’t 100% fit due to neck stiffness, so Sarfaraz is back into the playing eleven after the Dharamshala Test against England in March.

Dear Rohit sharma,

It’s been years of u playing Test cricket and u have done nothing noticeable as a batter. Kindly retire and do not eat spots of deserving youngsters. You are More then FINISHEDpic.twitter.com/DPupApoocR

— !ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@bholination_18) October 17, 2024

In Gill’s absence, KL Rahul has been slotted in as the number three batter for India. Meanwhile, Kuldeep has been picked as the third spinner alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ahead of pacer Akash Deep.

Newly-appointed New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips are the spin-bowling allrounders for the visitors alongside left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. They will be complemented by three pacers in Matt Henry, Tim Southee and William O’Rourke.

Playing XIs-

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj

New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, and William O’Rourke.

(With IANS inputs)

Matt Henry in action© AFP