Pune: Ravichandran Ashwin snared two wickets in the first session but New Zealand negated the Indian spinners deftly on a slow and spin-friendly surface to reach 92/2 at lunch on day one of the second Test here Thursday.
Devon Conway looked assured against a three-pronged Indian spin attack to reach 47 not out (108 balls, 5x4s) with the dangerous Rachin Ravindra batting on five at the other end.
It only took just seven overs to determine that spinners would play a key role in the game Ashwin vindicated providing the first breakthrough on his fifth ball.
Ashwin got drift and turn to dismiss the New Zealand captain Tom Latham (15) for the ninth time in Tests as the ball beat his outside edge to hit the pads in front of the wickets for an immediate decision from the on-field umpire.
The pair of Will Young (18) and Conway did well to keep things largely in favour of New Zealand as they adopted a slightly cautious approach during their 44-run association for the second wicket.
While Conway deployed the reverse sweep to a good effect, the right-handed Young batted fluently until he edged one down the leg side to gift Ashwin his second wicket of the session.
Young attempted to work a delivery down the leg side which perhaps could’ve been left alone, but the turn and low bounce had the ball brushing the gloves before settling into Rishabh Pant’s gloves.
While the bowler was immediately up for an appeal, it was Sarfaraz Khan at short leg who convinced his skipper Rohit Sharma to take a review even though Pant showed no visible interest for a caught-behind. As it turned out, the ball had indeed brushed Young’s gloves.
Soon after, a vociferous appeal for a leg-before against Conway off Ravindra Jadeja was turned down by the on-field umpire but India still chose to review it, losing one appeal in the process.
Ashwin, who sent down the majority of the 31 overs bowled in the morning session, found the outside edge off Conway’s bat shortly before lunch but the ball flew away from the reach of the Indian captain at first slip.
Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep began proceedings with the new ball but the track did not favour them much, even as they put forth some questions to the Kiwis’ openers with sideways movement.
