A maiden Test century from Shreyas Iyer and a five-wicket haul by Tim Southee headlined an enjoyable first session on day two of the first Test between India and New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium here on Friday.
At lunch, India are 339/8 in 109 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin (38 off 54 balls) and Umesh Yadav (4 off 28 balls) at the crease with Iyer and Southee being the standout performers for their respective teams.
Resuming from 258/4, Iyer began where he left off on day one, with two boundaries off Jamieson’s first over of the day. Tim Southee broke the 121-run stand in his second over as Jadeja chopped on to his stumps with no feet movement, departing without adding to his overnight score.
But Iyer was unperturbed, taking another boundary by steering through point off Jamieson.
Iyer continued to do well against Jamieson, getting boundaries through a thick edge between slip and wide gully fielder followed by an elegant cover drive.
Iyer reached his maiden Test century with two runs through point off Jamieson in the 92nd over. The 26-year-old became the 16th Indian batter (10th at home) to score a century on Test debut.
He also became the second Indian batter after Gundappa Viswanath (against Australia in 1969) to score a Test hundred on debut in Kanpur.
After Wriddhiman Saha nicked behind to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell off Southee in the 93rd over, Ravichandran Ashwin took consecutive boundaries off him.
Post drinks break, Southee had his third wicket of the day as Iyer chipped a drive away from the body to cover. Southee completed his 13th five-wicket haul in Test cricket, getting one to seam away from Axar Patel, drawing him into a poke and nicked behind to keeper.
Ashwin continued his counter-attack, taking a boundary each off Southee and Jamieson. He, along with Yadav, ensured that India didn’t lose any more wickets leading into lunch. India will be hoping to extend the innings post-lunch with the ball staying very low at odd instances.
Brief Scores: India 339/8 in 109 overs (Shreyas Iyer 105, Shubman Gill 52, Ravindra Jadeja 50, Tim Southee 5/69, Kyle Jamieson 3/85) vs New Zealand.
