India vs New Zealand 2024/25, IND vs New Zealand 2nd Test Match Report, October 24-28, 2024

Lunch India 107 for 7 (Jadeja 11*, Washington 2*, Santner 4-36, Phillips 2-26) Trail New Zealand 259 x 152 runs

From the first round there was great danger on the pitch. Three of Santner's balls behaved differently from the same spot: one turned less than expected, one angled inside to almost get Shubman Gill into the basket, and one turned a large portion of the outside edge. From that moment on, Santner was all over India, bowling figures of 14-1-34-4 throughout the session. It took persistence and patience to get the first wicket, Gill in the 11th over of the day, but newer batsmen found it incredibly difficult to start on this pitch.

After Virat Kohli missed a full toss to be bowled for 1, Tom Latham brought Phillips on for two left-handed batters, which he then also captained, one with the turn and one with a ball that went straight on and stayed low.

It was the first hour in which New Zealand had to keep believing. They continued to attack fields despite Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal having a penchant for big hits. India, who have been known to respond to such situations with counter-attacks in recent times, were desperate to attack but Santner's bowling was good enough to deny them that. Gill managed to hit Tim Southee for a six, but to do so he had to pounce on the fast bowler. Jaiswal had to play the reverse sweep to score a boundary.

Ultimately, Santner was rewarded for his hard work when an umpire awarded him an lbw throw. For Gill this was almost a repeat of the chance he had in the first half. As the 15 seconds of the DRS timer expired, the crowd cheered loudly at Kohli's arrival. The joy for them was short-lived as Kohli soon missed a full toss which he tried to mow down to square leg.

In the meantime the effect of the roller was wearing off. Batters even hit full balls or ones that they came close to with their feet. Those who didn't turn around created more doubt. As often happens in such moments, the fielders were all over the place, a hard swing went straight into the shin of short leg, a short ball stopped and spun, and the pressure kept mounting.

It took Phillips four balls to turn one and use Jaiswal's edge to slip. Rishabh Pant, who had been kept quiet with in-out fields, then went to pull one that was just slightly short. The ball stayed low and he threw it, resulting in an inaudible abuse that possibly resulted in Pant hitting the wallet.

Sarfaraz Khan, who showed his prowess against spin in Bengaluru, soon realized that the margin for error was slim here. If you had to attack, you needed bad balls. He tried to go inside out to a really full ball but it still ended up just over cover. His sweep was blocked and only brought him singles. Finally, he tried to clear deep midfield without reaching the field of play of the ball, a reminder of Phillips' dismissal on day one. A shooter then took out R Ashwin, the first time Santner took three wickets in a Test innings.

India now had to wait for Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to rescue them.