October 1, 2016
Brief Scorecard: New Zealand 128 for 7 (Bhunvneshwar 5-33) trail India 316 (Pujara 87, Rahane 77, Saha 54*, Henry 3-46) by 188 runs
Comeback-man Bhuvneshwar Kumar claims five-wicket to against New Zealand in Eden Gardens.
October 1, 2016
Brief Scorecard: New Zealand 128 for 7 (Bhunvneshwar 5-33) trail India 316 (Pujara 87, Rahane 77, Saha 54*, Henry 3-46) by 188 runs
Comeback-man Bhuvneshwar Kumar claims five-wicket to against New Zealand in Eden Gardens.
Kolkata: It's not too often that Indian cricket fans get to see their fast bowlers outperform the spinners in a Test match. The spin-friendly pitches in the sub-continent makes it very difficult for the pacers to restrict the flow of runs and pick up wickets on regular intervals.
But every once in a while when Indian curators do decide to make hard pitches and leave a tinge of grass on them, fast bowlers take over the job of taking wickets and outshine the spinners.
The ongoing second Test in Kolkata is one such example where Indian pace bowlers picked up majority of the wickets to fall. The Eden Gardens track for the past few years has been more helpful for the fast bowlers. The newly-laid surface in the ongoing match between India and New Zealand has seen 15 wickets being taken by the fast bowlers in the first two innings.
Black Caps pacers Matt Henry, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner together dismissed seven Indian batsmen in the first innings while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami ran through the opposition batting lineup on the second and the third day to hand India a big lead in match.
Bhuvneshwar, who replaced Umesh Yadav in the playing XI for this game, was the star performer for the hosts as he picked up five wickets for 48 runs, while Shami grabbed three for 70 as New Zealand got bowled out for 204 to hand India a 112-run first innings lead. This was Bhuvneshwar's maiden five-wicket haul on home soil and his fourth overall in Test cricket. Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could only manage one wicket apiece.
There have been very few Tests played in India where pacers have got the better of the batsmen. Here is a list of the previous five instances:
Sachin Tendulkar's penultimate Test match was overshadowed by the debut of pace sensation Mohammed Shami at the Eden Gardens. Shami displayed an awesome exhibition of fast bowling and was specially lethal with the old ball as he finished the match with figures of 9/118. It was the best performance by an Indian fast bowler on debut, beating Munaf Patel's 7/97 against England at Mohali in 2006. Shami got 4 wickets in the first innings and his maiden five-wicket haul in the second as India won the match by an innings and 51 runs. Shami and Bhuvneshwar clinched 11 of the 20 wickets in that Test match.
Courtesy: India Today
