New Delhi: A gritty fourth Test ton from Mayank Agarwal (120 not out) powered team India to 221/4 at Stumps on the opening Day of India vs New Zealand 2nd Test at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Young Agarwal came up with the rescue act when the team needed it the most.
The hosts had a great start to their innings, courtesy openers Agarwal and Shubman Gill, but suddenly Ajaz Patel tilted the scale in New Zealand's favour as he ran-through India's top-order with wickets of Shubman Gill (44), Cheteshwar Pujara (0), Virat Kohli (0) and Shreyas Iyer (18).
The fourth wicket stand between Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer then helped India steady their innings. Iyer was looking to repeat his heroics from the previous Kanpur Test but he was dismissed by Ajaz Patel for just 18.
After losing 4 wickets for 160 runs, India were still in trouble as things were pretty tight but then Wriddhiman Saha walked in and played a great supporting role with Agarwal to help India go past 200 on Stumps on day 1. The duo will resume India's innings on day 2 to add some more runs and set a big first innings total against the Kiwis.
India playing XI: Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand playing XI: Tom Latham (c), Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, William Somerville, Ajaz Patel