India vs New Zealand, day 1: Black Caps' perseverance pays off on variable Eden Gardens pitch

On Thursday afternoon, as the pitch for the second India-New Zealand Test was revealed from beneath covers, there was a greenish tinge on it. As Sourav Ganguly overlooked the final pitch preparations, irony dawned. Once, many years ago, the current Cricket Association of Bengal president had thrown a fit on finding a green-top in Nagpur against Australia.

Even so, it is a wicket rolled keeping in mind the ethos of Test cricket at Eden Gardens: something for everyone. And despite the green turf, batting first on this pitch was a no-brainer.

When you have two lethal spinners in your attack, and packed the side with seven batsmen, win-toss-bat-first is a thumb rule. The Indian skipper did hedge bets for losing the toss though, bringing in Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Umesh Yadav.

It showed his continuing selection policy of horses-for-courses. The other change to the eleven had generated a lot of debate: Shikhar Dhawan or Gautam Gambhir. It happens when a batsman is returning to the side after two years. How do you put him in the eleven without being unfair to another?

On current form, Dhawan doesn’t get into an Indian first choice eleven, irrespective of format. But inconsistency has been the hallmark of his play ever since he made his international debut. Through this period, he has survived on doing just enough to save his spot in the side. With a half-century in Antigua (on the West Indies’ tour prior), he had done so again in the eyes of the current team management. That Gambhir had been called up to the squad didn’t matter; it wouldn’t have been fair to Dhawan, after all he had been selected ahead of his Delhi teammate in this Test squad initially.

For right or wrong, this is how team selection works. And his loose dismissal in only the second over of the day doesn’t change this fact, either. What it does though is outline how tough the initial overs were today, and India needed some semblance of patience in the morning session. Unfortunately, two of their top four batsmen lacked that aspect.

Matt Henry hit his stride almost as soon as he was handed the ball. At the other end, Trent Boult was getting it move as well. Playing three pacers meant that New Zealand didn’t have to rely on their spinners too much, and did not have to over bowl them. Juggling three pacers, stand-in skipper Ross Taylor was able to put a lot of pressure on India’s top-order, especially after the early wicket.

The partnership between Murali Vijay and Pujara was crucial once again. Only this time, a beautiful out-swinger from Henry sent the opener back early. It brought Virat Kohli to the crease, and he caressed one through the covers. That shot raised visions of how grand a Kohli knock can be, like that effortless double hundred in Antigua.

Three balls later, the vision had changed to what has become a norm with him since that knock: a wide, full delivery, and Kohli went for the expansive drive, out caught playing a shot he shouldn’t have for the third consecutive innings.

Since that double ton, Kohli has scored 87 runs in six innings. It puts the strike-rate debate in perspective. The Indian skipper wants his team to play a certain brand of cricket. But the key to success in Tests is patience, and playing for time. That cannot be compromised, and in the second session of the day, Pujara showed why.

He is the in-form batsman this series, and by rights, should have scored two hundreds in Kanpur. Therein, he adhered to the team management’s demand of attacking more. But the fluency of his knocks cannot be measured in statistics, for he is someone who plays to the situation. He hit seven fours in the morning session, and six in the second one. Yet, this stat cannot tell you that he shut shop when the score read 57/3, as his prime motive was to bat time.

In Ajinkya Rahane then, he found a like-minded partner, willing to do the big grind on a two-paced pitch where the opposition weren’t gifting freebies. Having missed out in Kanpur against the spinners, the Mumbai batsman was more agreeable to using his feet and utilized the depth of the crease against Jeetan Patel and Mitchell Santner.

It is not to say that the New Zealand attack didn’t bowl any loose deliveries, no. Instead, the two batsmen waited for them to come as they built a 141-run stand without which India would have looked lost.

If the second session was a battle of patience between bat and ball, the last session was about carrying on with the same intensity. Despite spending time on the field in sapping humidity, New Zealand didn’t buckle and their plans paid dividend, and surged ahead.

Pujara left first, missing a third century for the taking this series. Neil Wagner bowled an unwavering line from round the wicket, and they had waited long for a half-chance. It finally came, as Pujara played an uppish drive straight to short cover. Eight overs later, Rahane was trapped leg before wicket by Patel. In between, Rohit Sharma failed to comprehend extra bounce and was caught at short leg off the off-spinner, his customary failure in a pressure situation.

The Kiwis enjoyed some luck later on, with R Ashwin’s LBW dismissal as the ball looked going down legside. But it cannot be denied that they reaped the benefits of what they had sown in the morning session. Losing those three wickets cheaply set the tone of the day for India.

This pitch is quite dissimilar to the one in Kanpur, but the Indian batting performance here was a mirror image from day one of the first Test. Never mind the variable bounce, the Indian batsmen lost wickets to poor shot selection and to the Black Caps’ perseverance.

And once again, the hosts will now be looking at their spin-twins for the rescue act.