Team India achieves unwanted feat after 23 years on Day 2 of 2nd Test against New Zealand

Team India being bowled out for just 156 on Friday in the first innings of the second Test against New Zealand at the MCA Stadium in Pune has seen Rohit Sharma and Co. equal an unwanted feat. New Zealand who scored 259 in the first innings of the ongoing Test took a 103-run lead over India on Day 2 as India ended up conceding a lead of over 100 runs in consecutive home Test matches for the first time in 23 years.

Even in the first Test of the series in Bengaluru, India were bowled out for 46, allowing New Zealand to take a 356-run first innings lead. India’s total of 46 is also their lowest team score at home .

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The last incident of India conceding over a 100-run lead in consecutive home Tests was in 2001 against Australia. The visitors had back then taken 173 runs lead at the Wankhede and 274 runs lead at the Eden Gardens. Despite Australia taking a 274 lead in the famous Kolkata test, India bounced back to win the match with VVS Laxman scoring 281 and Rahul Dravid adding 180 as the duo stitched a 376-run partnership.

India went on to win that match by 171 runs and will hope for a similar turnaround in the ongoing match in Pune.

Read: Jaiswal breaks 45-year record on Day 2 of second India-New Zealand Test in Pune

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Team India already trail 1-0 in the three-match series after an eight-wicket loss in the first Test at M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru. Another defeat will not only lead to a series loss but it will also be a massive blow to their chances of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final).

The major issues for India have been their inability to consistently put up strong totals. While pace, bounce, and seam movement led to a collapse in Bengaluru, on Day 2 in Pune, Indian batters’ technique against spin was exposed. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand as he took seven wickets for 53.

Santner hunts down Indian batters

Rohit Sharma was cleaned bowled by Tim Southee for a duck on Day 1 but all nine Indian wickets on Day 2 fell to the spinner with off-spinner Glenn Phillips pitching in with two wickets. Virat Kohli was cleaned up by Santner after the star batter missed a full toss, playing a flick shot.

The top run-getter for India was Ravindra Jadeja who scored 38 before falling to Santner. Yashasvi Jaiswal (30) and Shubman Gill (30) were the next best performers.

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham had already completed his fifty in the second innings as New Zealand stretched their lead beyond 220 runs at the time of publishing this report.