New Zealand versus India Test Series, 2024

2nd Test

Day-1 Morning Session Highlights:

Ashwin’s double breakthrough can’t stop Conway from giving New Zealand a solid foundation

At The Lunch of Day-1:

New Zealand scored 92/2 vs India.

Devon Conway’s unbeaten 47 guided New Zealand to a steady start in the opening session of the second Test against India in Pune.

Despite little trouble for the batters, the visitors adopted a cautious approach, reaching Lunch at 92 for 2.

New Zealand opted to bat after winning the toss and made one forced change, with Mitchell Santner replacing the injured Matt Henry.

India, meanwhile, shuffled their lineup, bringing in Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill, and Akash Deep in place of Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul, and Mohammed Siraj.

Spin was introduced early in the innings and stayed in operation for much of the morning session.

Despite a conservative approach, New Zealand found the occasional boundary, with Akash Deep offering a few loose deliveries.

He leaked three boundaries in his first two overs despite finding some movement and even an outside edge on occasion.

R Ashwin came into the attack in the eighth over and struck immediately.

His sharp turn trapped Tom Latham on the pads, beating the outside edge of his bat.

Washington Sundar followed from the other end, and both off-spinners operated at a brisk pace against the left-right combination of Conway and Will Young.

While there was some turn available when the spinners slowed their deliveries, they preferred to bowl in the early to mid-90 km/h range, using quicker sliders to rush the batters.

Both Ashwin and Sundar frequently beat the outside edge, though clear-cut chances were rare.

Conway and Young managed to keep the scoreboard ticking despite their cautious play, taking advantage of occasional loose lines and the spinners’ higher pace to find gaps.

However, Young fell against the run of play, gloving a leg-side delivery to the keeper.

India successfully overturned the on-field decision via review to claim their second wicket of the session.

Rachin Ravindra survived an early scare when Ravindra Jadeja hit him on the pads, but India’s review for LBW was unsuccessful.

Interestingly, Jadeja caused the most discomfort to the left-handers, consistently troubling them, though not enough to claim a wicket before the lunch break.