Auckland: He flipped the coin and smiled for the sixth consecutive time. The clouds hovering above made the decision easy. Dhoni and his men took the field, putting in hosts Kiwis to face some howlers. The Indian bowlers did what the doctor ordered — ripped the Kiwi top order apart. Before lunch, the Kiwi team looked in tatters. Just 54 runs on the board and three wickets down — it looked like team New Zealand had lost the plot.
Post lunch, however, another plot was lost — the Indians on the receiving end this time. Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum turned the tables on the Indian bowlers, notching up a double century partnership and pulling the hosts from down the dumps. Enroute to mission damage control, both Williamson and McCullum brought up their centuries.
At stumps on Day 1 of the first Test between India and New Zealand, the hosts look comfortably placed at 329 for 4, with McCullum unbeaten on 143, while Williamson perished after making 113. The start was a shaky one, that was scripted largely by Ishant Sharma, who claimed the scalps of Hamish Rutherford, who edged a thick one to Ajinkya Rahane and walked back to the pavillion scoring just six. Next to take the long walk back was Ross Taylor, courtesy a mistimed drive that went straight into the safe hands of Ravindra Jadeja. Fulton was done in by a sharp one by Zaheer Khan, who’s looking to regain his lost touch.
While the Indian bowlers did put up a clinical display, yet the fielders played butter fingers, with Dhawan dropping Peter Fulton on one, and then skipper McCullum on 13. That, probably gifted the day to the hosts.