India tour of New Zealand 2020

Fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who was struggling to pick a wicket, finally managed to scalp one as he got rid of New Zealand skipper. As Bumrah took the prized wicket of Williamson, Kohli was all pumped up and gave an animated send-off to his counterpart.

Jadeja was placed well inside deep square and it appeared that the shot from Wagner’s bat will cross the boundary ropes. However, Jadeja threw himself up and plucked the catch from thin air with his left hand. It was a clean catch with so fumble whatsoever.

Skipper Virat Kohli again failed to put up a substantial score and fell prey to Tim Southee after scoring mere three runs. Other than him, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant also failed to put up a substantial total and were dismissed early.

Kyle Jamieson’s career is on the upward graph as he scalped his maiden five-wicket haul, playing just his second Test. The tall pacer made things difficult for India with his bounce as he picked five wickets.

Once the partnership was broken, it did not take New Zealand long to account for remaining wickets. Jamieson after accounting for Shaw and Pujara, accounted for wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav.

In the first Test, Kohli managed only two and 19 runs in first and second innings respectively. Interestingly, on the tour of New Zealand, the right-handed batsman has scored just one half-century that came during the One-Day International (ODI) series.

Neil Wagner will make his return back into the New Zealand Test team after becoming a father and will be up against Indian captain Virat Kohli – a battle predicted to the most eye-catching one before the two-match Test series. Kohli has gone without a hundred in his last 20 international innings— his worse run since the dubious England Tour of 2014.

Indian batsmen failed to get going in the opening Test and failed to go past 200-run mark in both the innings. The batsmen, including captain Virat Kohli, will be under tremendous pressure to put up a good show. To make things worse, India are winless in the longer format of the game in New Zealand since 2009.

Kohli-led side faced their first defeat in the ICC World Test Championship at Wellington and will hope to avoid a series defeat with a win in the 2nd and final Test match of the series. India failed to put up any competition in the 1st Test in both the departments and will have to find ways to at least look competitive.

India will square off against New Zealand in the second Test of the two-matches series which will begin from February 29, 2020. The game will be held at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. New Zealand currently leads the series by 1-0, as they defeated visitor in the previous game by 10 wickets.

Kapil, who played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs in an international career that spanned 16 years, however, said that he himself has felt the symptoms of burnout when he used to play. He said that feeling burned out or otherwise is as much a mental and emotional state as it is physical.

Skipper Kane Williamson shone with the bat in the opening game of the series and his knock of 89 runs in the second innings proved to be match-defining in the end. Other than him, the pace trio of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson breathe with the ball and never allowed the Indian batsmen to settle their feet.