India have put on a horror batting display in the first session on Day 2 of the first Test against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday (October 17). While India elected to bat first, they are reduced to 34/6 at Lunch on Day 2 with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja all back in the pavilion. The hosts could have been 34/7 had Tom Blundell not dropped a regulation catch of Rishabh Pant.
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New Zealand pacers have been on fire with Matt Henry and William O’Rourke scalping 3 wickets each and Tim Southee having one wicket to his name. Barring Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored 13 and Pant who remains unbetean on 15 at Lunch, India's scorecard reads 2, 0, 0, 0, 0. Notably, the first day of the India Vs New Zealand Test in Bengaluru had been call off due to rain.
India Opted To Bat In Bengaluru Unlike In Kanpur
In overcast conditions, unlike Rohit Sharma's decision to bowl first in the Bangladesh Test at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, he opted to bat first. However, the decision hasn't been working so far in favour of India with Indian batting having no answers to the questions posed by the New Zealand seamers. India were forced to include Sarfaraz Khan in place of Shubman Gill with the latter complaining of a stiff neck while they opted to go in for an extra-spinner in Kuldeep Yadav in place of Akash Deep.
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However, all India batters have fallen to seam bowling so far and with the weather forecast showing cloud over for the next few days in Bengaluru, the decision could come back to haunt the Indian batting.