The fifth and final day of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Green Park Kanpur on November 29, 2021, proved to be one of the most intriguing ones as the Black Caps batters fought valiantly against the Indian spin trio to earn a hard-fought draw.
New Zealand started the day from 4/1 and nightwatchman Will Somerville and Tom Latham played out the entire first session of the fifth day quite easily, denying Indian bowlers any wicket, which proved to be pivotal in the final result of the match.
Though Somerville (36) fell on the first ball after lunch to Umesh Yadav; New Zealand continued to fight hard despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Latham fell to Ashwin for 56, giving him his 418th wicket, taking him past Harbhajan Singh’s record of 417 scalps in Tests.
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Kane Williamson played out 112 balls for his 24, and then Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, along with Akshar Patel ran through the middle order, removing Ross Taylor (2), Henry Nicholls (1) and Tom Blundell (2) in no time.
But then Rachin Ravindra, the debutant, laid anchor at one end and kept wasting balls, finishing on 18* in 91 balls. Though Indian spinners, particularly Ravindra Jadeja (4/40) and R Ashwin (3/35) made inroads frequently, Kiwi batters continued to frustrate the home side and played out the mandatory overs in the final hour of day five as well.
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Bad light didn’t help them as well as New Zealand ended on 165/9 and both sides shook hands as umpires denied further play despite time remaining in the day’s play.
The cricket fraternity admired the wonderfully fought encounter between two great sides. They took to Twitter and lauded both sides for the valiant fight and here are some of the tweets.
Check them out here:
