Kohli battles on against disciplined NZ attack

Tea India 148 for 3 (Kohli 45*, Rahane 19*) v New ZealandLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The Holkar Stadium provided a pitch covered with cracks for its Test debut, and Virat Kohli, having won his seventh successive toss in home Tests, suggested batting would be easiest on days one and two, and hoped India could put up a big first-innings total. At various points through the first two sessions, their batsmen got themselves set and looked like going on to make significant scores, but New Zealand kept pegging them back. Using whatever help there was on a fairly good first-day surface to bat on, and giving away very little in terms of loose balls, they kept India down to 148 through the first two sessions while picking up the wickets of their top three.

Kohli batted through a tense second session to go to tea on 45, and with him was Ajinkya Rahane, on 19. New Zealand made both their lives difficult in an obdurate unbroken stand of 48.

Rahane endured a couple of edgy moments against the short ball. On 3, hurried by an accurate Matt Henry bouncer, he lifted his hands to protect his face, and survived an appeal for a catch at slip, with umpire Kumar Dharmasena spotting that the ball had gone off his arm guard and not his glove. Then, on 7, Trent Boult went around the wicket and angled a rising short ball into his body. Rahane failed to keep the pull down, but Henry, rushing in from the square leg boundary and falling forward, couldn’t quite reach the ball with his right arm outstretched.

In the penultimate …

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