The incident from 7 years ago should not happen again in Pune with the Indian team.Image Credit Source: PTI
It rarely happens that the Indian team loses the first match of a test series at home and their condition is also not good in the second match. Despite losing the first test in recent years, the Indian team has made a great comeback in the next match. The situation looks a little different in the current Test series against New Zealand. After the shocking defeat in the first Test in Bengaluru, Team India is facing the challenge of saving the series and the way the Pune Test has started does not give good signs. This reminds me of that test match 7 years ago, which was played on this very ground and the Indian team had to face defeat.
What happened on the first day in Pune Test?
First of all, let’s talk about the first day of the test match between India and New Zealand. On the first day of this match, which began on Thursday, October 24, New Zealand won the toss and batted first. The New Zealand team got off to a good start and Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Will Young together took the team to close to 200 runs. It was here that Rachin Ravindra’s wicket fell and Washington Sundar got it and then in no time the Kiwi team was bowled out for just 259 runs. After this, Team India came out to bat but captain Rohit Sharma was out without opening the account and by the end of the day, Team India had scored 16 runs after losing 1 wicket.
Signs of an accident from 7 years ago.
Now let’s talk about the danger looming over the Indian team. Actually, the first match was played 7 years ago in 2017 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. That match took place between India and Australia. Also in that match, Australia won the toss and batted first and scored 259 runs after losing 9 wickets on the first day. The Australian innings eventually collapsed at just 260 runs, just 1 run more than New Zealand’s score. After this, team India collapsed for just 105 runs in the first innings. Coincidentally, in that innings too, Team India captain Virat Kohli failed to open the account.
That means Australia and New Zealand’s first innings scores are almost equal, while in both matches, Team India’s captain was bowled out for 0 in the first innings. So far everything is similar, now eyes will be on how many runs team India scores in the first innings. If we talk about the India-Australia match, Australia won that match by a huge margin of 333 runs. In this Australian victory, left-arm bowler Steve O’Keefe emerged as the biggest hero. He took 6-6 wickets in both innings. Now if we talk about New Zealand, this team also has 2 left-arm spinners: Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel. Both had troubled Shubhman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the end of the first day.
Will the domain be broken after 12 years?
It is clear from this that the signs of the first day are not good for the Indian team. Now, if the performance of the Indian team batsmen remains like that of the Test 7 years ago, New Zealand will also win this match and then something will happen which has not happened in the last 12 years. After about 12 years, a team will come to India and manage to win a Test series, which England last did in 2012. This means that now the batsmen of Team India have a big responsibility to score big in the first innings because this pitch is changing from day one and India has to bat in the last innings.
