New Zealand celebrate the wicket Sarfaraz Khan. Photo / Photosport
How the world reacted to the Black Caps bowling India out for 46 and taking control on day two of the first test in Bengaluru.
The Times of India
India’s abject surrender with the bat in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand left former captain Ajay Jadeja deeply disappointed. He emphasised that, aside from winning the toss, everything seemed to go against the hosts.
India’s batting lineup crumbled after captain Rohit Sharma decided to bat first, as they were skittled out for a paltry 46 runs.
“If we see today’s day, you won only the toss and lost everything else. The batting was probably the most disappointing. The team did what they could from their side in bowling. However, the fielding support was also missing. So the chances that came also slipped out of their hands,” Jadeja said on Colors Cineplex.
He also mentioned that if India were to consider their worst day, this would undoubtedly be it, and the scorecard reflects that it is a significant moment in history.
“Such a day has come after a long time in Indian cricket, and that happens. You play almost 365 days, if you count your worst day among those, today might be that day. The scorecard shows it’s a huge day in history. Whatever the Indian team wanted didn’t happen today apart from winning the toss,” Jadeja said.
”I will not talk about an individual. If something is there, it’s the approach. Only Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, which is rare when we talk about Rishabh, got out while defending or to balls you felt could dismiss you. Apart from that, whether it was Sarfaraz Khan, Rohit Sharma or Yashasvi Jaiswal, the mode was attacking, which as a team you might be disappointed about,” Jadeja added.
Cricket Australia couldn’t contain themselves after India collapsed to their lowest test total at home after New Zealand skittled them for 46 overnight.
Posting highlights of India’s worst-ever effort, 36 all-out against Australia in 2020, on X, Cricket Australia poked fun at the Indian team by asking: “Is ‘All out for 46′ the new ‘All out for 36′?”
Akshay Ramesh, India Today
High-flying India were brought down to earth on Day 2 of the Test series opener by New Zealand. On an overcast morning in Bengaluru, with conditions resembling those in Wellington, New Zealand’s fast bowlers took full advantage, dismantling India’s famed batting line-up. India collapsed for just 46 runs, marking their lowest Test total on home soil.
As many as five Indian batters, including Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and Sarfaraz Khan, were dismissed for ducks. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to weather the early storm, but New Zealand’s pace trio – Tim Southee, Matt Henry, and Will O’Rourke – were in lethal form, exploiting the seam movement offered by the pitch under heavy cloud cover.
Only Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal offered any resistance as India’s innings folded in just 31.2 overs.
“It’s a bit worrying,” former India captain Anil Kumble remarked on-air, expressing his surprise at the lack of application from India’s batting line-up.
He continued, “India lost several wickets against Bangladesh in Chennai under similar conditions. Here in Bengaluru, they’re 34 for 6. It’s concerning. Yes, the bowling attack is excellent, but the batters need to adapt to these conditions. They need to find ways to manage and get into better positions.”
Sandip G, The Indian Express
When the sun finally broke through the clouds after days in hiding and shone brightly, the lights were already out of India’s dressing room. Under glowering forenoon skies of Bangalore, the moving and leaping wreck-ball, surgically directed by New Zealand’s pace trio, reduced them to a pile of unflattering records. The 46 they mustered on Day Two in Bangalore was their lowest in the country, the third worst overall and the least a team had ever managed in the continent.
For 31.2 overs and 132 minutes, a nightmare within a nightmare unfolded here. Much of it was self-inflicted. India chose to bat knowing fully that the ball would zip and zap; they were aware that this was New Zealand’s strongest suit, (and their own kryptonite). Yet, in the heady over-estimation of their batting prowess or undermining of the conditions, they decide to bat. Perhaps, to challenge their mind and technique against the moving ball released from a trio of bowlers born and raised in similar conditions, who are capable of squeezing every ounce of favourable conditions. Or to show the world that they could conquer arduous climes, or that they are fully equipped to deal with the might of Australia in a month’s time, or as preparation for that tour.
Whatever be, this was a day India wished had not existed. Tactics mockingly backfired, be it the decision to bat first under cloud cover and accumulated moisture, or the ploy to install Virat Kohli at one drop, or Sarfraz Khan at four, or sacrificing an in-form seamer for a third spinner. But none would pain them as much as their shocking batting – a total surrender of mind and technique.
The conditions, undoubtedly, were harrowing and the three seamers furnished diverse challenges. Tim Southee swung the ball away and wobble-seamed it inwardly to the right-handers; Matt Henry combined slippery pace with seam movement either ways; the six feet four inches William O’Rourke released from heavens, shuffled his lengths adroitly and produced disconcerting bounce off hard and good lengths. Rather than getting carried away by the conditions, they stuck to their fundamentals, probed tight lines, pounded difficult lengths and barely gifted a release ball. The siege they laid could not be breached.
As relentless and conditions-primed New Zealand’s bowlers were, various aspects of India’s batting were exposed in varying degrees. India’s batsmen failed the technique test. Angled and crooked bats, pokes and prods met the moving ball, some that challenged the principles of geometry. A sturdy defensive shot was rarer than the falcons that usually hover over the arena.
Kris Shannon, NZ Herald
Tom Latham’s first call as fulltime captain was wrong. As a result, almost everything that happened next went right.
After losing the toss and being asked to bowl in the opening test in Bengaluru, the Black Caps’ rampant quicks rolled India for 46, their lowest total at home in test history.
Devon Conway (91) then lifted the tourists to 180-3 at stumps, leading by 134 with a significant step taken towards a first victory in India since 1988.
It added up to an astonishing day for a team who had lost their last four tests, shrugging off form, injury and unrest to dismantle the leaders of the World Test Championship.
New Zealand’s chances in that competition essentially slipped away last month in Sri Lanka, a series that led to Southee resigning the captaincy. Latham was promoted and, after being denied his wish to bat first, made leadership look easy.
In fairness, with the way Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke proceeded to bowl, it mattered little who had been monitoring the flip of a coin.
With conditions more befitting a grey first morning at Hagley Oval, Henry in particular was right at home. The Cantabrian exploited the assistance available by delivering each ball with unerring accuracy, beating bats and inducing false shots to record 5-15 in 13.2 overs.
Such effectiveness was a continuation of the success Henry enjoyed last summer and surely cemented his place for the rest of this three-match series, having been left on the sidelines during the 2-0 defeat by Sri Lanka.
O’Rourke (4-22) proved an ideal partner, matching Henry’s lateral movement with the bounce that in five tests has emerged as a deadly weapon, while Southee began the rout before ceding the spotlight to two stars.
Playing three seamers could have been risky while the hosts opted for a spin trio. Instead, the innings was the first time all 10 wickets were claimed by visiting pacers in India since Southee’s career-best 7-64 inspired the feat at the same venue 12 years ago.
That match was eventually lost. This – with three days remaining following a soggy start – seems headed in the opposite direction.
Bevon Jacobs is yet to play international cricket, but he knows it's where he wants to be.