To bowl, and to bat against spin, is an art. And it is widely believed that Indians are masters of this art. But what we witnessed on the 2nd day of the 2nd Test between IND and NZ at Pune, was another eye-opener. We lost nine wickets to spin with Glenn Phillips bagging two, and Mitchell Santner claiming seven wickets, to restrict India to 156.
Mitchell Santner Stuns India and Virat Kohli
The reason, the speeds at which both Santner and Phillips bowled, especially the former. The left-armer was generally slower than his Indian counterparts, who relied more on sending down speedy deliveries to outfox the batsmen. But that didn’t really happen, as NZ scored 259 in the first innings, and by the time the 2nd day ended, scored 198/5.
As per a stat by the Jio team on Friday, Kiwi spinners had an average speed of 87 kmph, while the Indian spinners were a touch faster at 92 kmph. That made a lot of difference to the entire match. The visitors gave a lot of air to the ball, and gave it a lot more chance to spin, that put our batters in problem, and Virat Kohli’s dismissal was a classic example.
Even bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted to the same. “I think they bowled very well in partnership. It was hard to rotate strike. To keep the scoreboard ticking was important. The pace at which Santner bowled today was spot on. Arriving here 1-0, we were confident that we will bat big but it just didn’t happen,” he said at the conference, after the end of day’s play.
IND vs NZ, 2nd Test
As far as the match is concerned, New Zealand is 301 runs ahead already. With 5 more wickets to go, they would like to set a target of at least 400 for India. But with poor batting displays for India so far in the series, this Test as well as series, looks all but gone.
