WILLIAMSON MISSES TEST
New Zealand were dealt a major blow when captain Kane Williamson was ruled out of the Kolkata Test due to illness.
There were reports earlier that Williamson missed training on Thursday, but would be fit in time for the second Test. That wasn’t to be the case, though, as New Zealand’s official Twitter account confirmed that Williamson was forced to sit out.
Not only is Williamson New Zealand’s skipper, but also their best batsman. The 26-year-old has 4493 Test runs at an average of 51.05 in 53 Tests. He scored a half-century in New Zealand’s first innings in the first Test at Kanpur.
Ross Taylor is captaining the side in Williamson’s absence.
KOHLI SETS TOSS RECORD
Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to win six consecutive tosses in India in Test cricket. He is, in fact, yet to loss a toss in whites in India.
Starting with the Test against South Africa in November 2015, Kohli has won the toss in every Test match at home (four against the Proteas and two against New Zealand).
Kohli’s form with the bat, though, seems to have deserted him and that will be a worry for the Indian camp. After scoring nine and 18 in the Kanpur Test, the Indian skipper could manage just nine in the first innings at Kolkata.
Forget about winning test series, forget about winning a test match, overseas team can't win even a toss in Asia. #indvnz #Cricket
— DevRaj Timalsina (@TheEigen) September 30, 2016
DHAWAN FAILS AFTER GETTING PICKED OVER GAMBHIR
Much of the pre-match debate centered around whether Shikhar Dhawan or Gautam Gambhir would replace the injured KL Rahul at the top of India’s order.
It was Dhawan who got the nod and considering he was part of the initial squad, even before Rahul’s injury, it was a fair call. But the move did not look very good when the 30-year-old was dismissed for just one.
Since his 187 against Australia on debut, Dhawan has played 10 Test innings in India and has scored just 207 runs without a single half-century.
PUJARA’S GOOD FORM
It would be fair to say that Cheteshwar Pujara hasn’t had the best run of form with the bat in Test cricket over the last number of years.
Hence, it must be a relief to the Indian team that Pujara looks like he has regained the form that saw him become India’s most reliable Test batsman in 2012-13.
The Saurashtra batsman has scored half-centuries in all three of his innings in the ongoing series against New Zealand. This was, of course, preceded by 166, 31 and 259* in the Duleep Trophy.
MATT HENRY – THE MAN FOR NEW ZEALAND
Matt Henry wasn’t even part of the initial Test squad for New Zealand’s tour of India. Only when experienced pacer Tim Southee was ruled out due to injury did Henry catch a flight to the subcontinent.
The 24-year-old sat out the first Test as the Kiwis went in with the strategy of using three spinners. Upon riveting back to three pacers in Kolkata, Henry was picked above Bracewell despite the latter being a regular member of New Zealand’s Test squads recently.
Henry repaid the faith shown on him.
Dismissing Shikhar Dhawan in only his fourth ball, the pacer did not look back and troubled the Indian batsmen throughout the day. He bowled a probing line outside the off-stump and would go on to get rid of Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin, ending the day with figures of 3/35.
