India Hits New Low In Gloomy Bengaluru Test Opener vs NZ

The Indian team hit rock bottom in Bengaluru’s overcast condtions on Day 2 of the opening Test against New Zealand on Thursday.

For the first time in the illustrious history of cricket, India lost four batters for a duck out of the top seven in a home Test.

Virat Kohli (0 of 9), KL Rahul (0 of 6), Sarfaraz Khan (0 of 3) and Ravindra Jadeja (0 of 6) returned to the pavilion without troubling the scorers.

Overall, India had five ducks in their list of batters after Ravichandran Ashwin was sent back for a golden duck on the first ball of the second session.

After India captain Rohit Sharma departed cheaply, the scorching deliveries from New Zealand pacers continued to unsettle Indian, leading to a mouth-watering contest between the bat and the ball.

ORourke silenced the crowd at M Chinnaswamy Stadium by extracting extra bounce from the surface with his bounce, taking Kohli by surprise.

The Indian stalwart tried to defend the ball off his toes but ended up gloving it to Glenn Phillips, who came flying from leg gully to take a stunning catch. This was Kohli’s first duck in 32 innings, with his last coming against the same opposition in 2021 at Wankhede.

Sarfaraz, who got his much-awaited opportunity, slapped the ball with the bottom edge of the bat. Devon Conway sprang to his right at extra cover to complete a screamer of a catch.

KL Rahul came in and was welcomed by ORourke by smashing the ball straight into the Indian’s glove. With Rahul rattled, ORourke came back in his next over to take the rewards for his efforts.

With India itching to score runs, ORourke lured Rahul into making a blunder and tickled the ball down to Blundell’s left. With Rahul becoming the third batter to register a duck for India, Ravindra Jadeja became the fourth to enter the list following a miscued shot.

With five ducks in their bucket, India’s tailend tried to put up a fight, which was to no avial. India eventually folded on 46. (ANI)