New Delhi: A spirited bowling performance from India's spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel went in vain as Rachin Ravindra and Kyle Jamieson somehow managed to hold the fort, batted out 52 balls to survive the final session and stop India from winning the series opener and end the 1st Test in a draw on Day 5 at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium.
In the recent past, not many games on Indian soil have gone into the last 10 overs of final day but New Zealand today showed why they won the World Test Championship (WTC) final. An international test match has ended in a draw in India after 4 years. Earlier in 2017, the Test match played between India and Sri Lanka in Delhi had resulted in a draw.
The Indian bowlers bowled their hearts out, they pushed really hard in the final session and were on the cusp of attaining a memorable win for their team but bad light did not allow 12-14 minutes of play left in Day 5's final session. The second and final Test of the series will be played in Mumbai from December 3.
Off-spinner R Ashwin took 3 wickets for India while Ravindra Jadeja took 4 wickets. India declared after scoring 345 runs in their first innings and 234 for 7 in their second innings. In reply, New Zealand had scored 295 runs in their first innings. Team India got a lead of 49 runs on the basis of first innings.
India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand Playing XI: Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William Somerville