Boult, Santner give NZ hard-earned edge

India seemed to have made the ideal start to their 500th Test. They had won the toss on a pitch full of cracks that were expected to widen and offer lots of help for the spinners from the third day onwards. Their top order had made a confident start, and halfway through the first day they were 154 for 1.

New Zealand, though, had come to India with the belief that they had the tools they needed to compete hard. Over the second half of the day, their five-man attack showed what it was capable of, and left India 291 for 9 at stumps.

By then, each of the New Zealand bowlers – two left-arm quicks of differing methods, an offspinner, a left-arm orthodox spinner, and a legspinner – had struck at least one vital blow.Mitchell Santner, attacking the stumps with his left-arm spin and varying his pace well, chipped out three wickets. Ish Sodhi took out the set M Vijay in the last over before tea. Mark Craig dismissed Ajinkya Rahane in a testing post-tea spell of flight and drift.

Trent Boult went wicketless with the first new ball, but swung the second one devastatingly to rip through India’s lower order. The biggest wicket, though, went to Neil Wagner, who turned the mood of the match with the wicket of Virat Kohli.

It was the definitive hinge moment. New Zealand had just broken a century stand between M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, and the opposition’s captain and best batsman had walked in to deafening noise. He had begun confidently, slapping Santner to the cover point boundary and then stepping across to hook a good short ball from Wagner to the backward square leg boundary, with a bit of help from a Sodhi fumble on the boundary.

Two balls later, he tried the same shot, but this time Wagner had switched from left-arm around to left-arm over. Kohli had to work against the angle, and only managed a top-edge that settled nicely in Sodhi’s hands.

Green Park went quiet.

Unlike Kohli, Vijay hadn’t taken on Wagner’s short balls, and through both his spells – one with the new ball and another, spanning seven overs, in the afternoon session – he had swayed out of the way, dropped his wrists, and simply watched balls go through to the keeper. He had been similarly watchful against the other bowlers, permitting himself only one indulgence – the late cut. This shot, played off balls that were barely short or wide, had fetched him boundaries against Wagner, Santner, and Trent Boult, but in the last over before tea, batting on 65, he tried it against Ish Sodhi’s legspin and nicked to the keeper BJ Watling.

Four down at tea, India were quickly five down as Rahane, reaching out to defend Craig’s offspin, failed to get near the pitch of the ball, and inside-edged to short leg.

Rohit Sharma had looked edgy against Craig, outside-edging him past slip, inside-edging him wide of short leg, and surviving a close lbw appeal when he tried to sweep him off the stumps, but grew more comfortable as his sixth-wicket stand with R Ashwin neared and passed the half-century mark. But not for the first time in his Test career, the itch to hit over the top consumed him, against the run of play. Trying to hit Santner down the ground, he only managed to loop a simple catch to mid-on.

The dismissal exposed India’s lower order to a ball that was only three overs old. Boult, fast and accurate, swerved one back in from over the wicket to sneak between Wriddhiman Saha’s bat and pad. Then he went around the wicket to Ashwin – who had just become India’s highest run-getter in 2016 – and snaked an offcutter away from him. Rooted to the crease, he nicked to gully. Then another full, swinging left-arm classic to bowl Mohammed Shami. India were 277 for 9.

How different it had all been, not all that long ago. India had begun brightly, with KL Rahul going after Boult, who frequently overpitched while trying to find the right length with the new ball. Having rushed to 26 off 35 balls against the seamers, he greeted the introduction of spin with a slog-swept six off Santner’s second ball. But two balls later, he stayed back when he should have been forward, playing the trajectory of a flatter, quicker ball rather than its length, and feathered an edge to the keeper.

Thereafter, Vijay and Pujara settled in and brought up their third century partnership – and 12th over 50 – looking at ease on a typically subcontinental first-day pitch, with the abundant cracks on its surface not yet wide enough to affect its behavior. Coming off scores of 166 and 256* in the Duleep Trophy, Pujara had batted with positive footwork against the spinners, stepping out to the pitch or rocking right back, and was looking set for another massive score. But against the run of play, he spooned a drive back into Santner’s hands, with the ball possibly holding up on the pitch.

It was a small opening, but an opening nonetheless, and New Zealand showed they had the bowling to break right through it.

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