Five players were dismissed for a duck as India fell inside 32 overs against New Zealand; it is their third worst Test score and their worst at home; only Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant scored more than four runs
Thursday 17 October 2024 15:37, UK
India were bowled out for 46 in the first innings of their first Test against New Zealand, their lowest Test score on home soil.
Veteran New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee clean-bowled India captain Rohit Sharma for two, star Virat Kohli was one of five Indian batters to be dismissed for a duck and they collapsed from 31-3 to 46 all out.
Rohit, Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan were all back in the pavilion with only 10 on the board, the latter two making ducks, before Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) and Rishabh Pant (20), the only two batters to score more than four runs, attempted to steady the ship with a stand of 21.
But from 31-3, India were soon languishing on 34-7 with KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin departing for ducks after Jaiswal made 13.
Pant went for a top score of 20 as Matt Henry (5-15), who moved to 100 Test wickets, and William O'Rourke (4-22) cleaned up the tail in a remarkable passage of play that gave the Black Caps complete control.
It is India's lowest Test innings score on home soil, and their third-lowest Test score - their worst coming against Australia in Adelaide in 2020, when they were bowled out for 36.
India's previous lowest total at home had been the 75 they made against West Indies in Delhi in 1987.
New Zealand closed day two on 180-3 and with a commanding 134-run lead, bolstering their hopes of a first Test victory over India on away soil since 1988, with Rachin Ravindra 22 not out and Daryl Mitchell unbeaten on 14.
Devon Conway top-scored with a quickfire 91 off 105 balls, containing three sixes and 11 fours, while Will Young (33) and skipper Tom Latham (15) were the other New Zealand wickets to fall.
India captain Sharma, who raised eyebrows by opting to bat first, said: "You see and you try and make the judgement. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don't, and I was on the other side of it this time around.
"I'm hurting a little bit because I made that call. But see, for us as a team, I think these are the challenges.
"There was not much grass, so we felt the reason to add Kuldeep (Yadav) was because he's bowled on flat pitches and he's taken wickets, so we expected the pitch to be a little flatter than what it turned out to be. So clearly a misjudgement of the pitch."
Watch day four of the second Test between Pakistan and England in Multan, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Wednesday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW
