2nd Test Day 1: India 16/1 at Stumps, Rohit out for nought; New Zealand 259 all out
Pune, Oct 24: All-rounder Washington Sundar justified his selection with a career-best 7/59 to help India bowl out New Zealand for 259, but the hosts lost skipper Rohit Sharma early in their first innings when stumps were drawn on day of the second Test, here on Thursday.
India crawled to 16 for one in 11 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal (6 not out) and Shubman Gill (10 not out) at the crease, trailing by another 243 runs in the first innings.
Tim Southee cleaned up Rohit for a nine-ball duck, forcing the hosts to be extra cautious with the debacle of first innings in the Bengaluru Test still fresh in the mind.
Rohit, who was cleaned up for the third time in the series and for the second time by Southee, was squared up as he looked to defend in the line of the delivery but the ball moved away to beat his outside edge and crash into the off-stump.
Southee thus became the first among fast bowlers to take a wicket in this Test after a dominating show by the Indian spin duo of Sundar and R Ashwin (3/64), who did not allow New Zealand to break free.
The 25-year-old Sundar, playing his first Test for India since March, 2021, ran through New Zealand after Ashwin claimed the first three wickets in the innings to move past his Australian peer Nathan Lyon in the list of highest wicket-takers in Tests.
Ashwin began by trapping New Zealand captain Tom Latham (15) in front of the wickets and getting Will Young (18) caught behind in the first session, while Sundar took the centrestage towards the end of the second.
While he was measly to begin with as New Zealand batters looked to consolidate, Sundar reaped rich dividends for his perseverance.
He swung the momentum in India's favour with two late wickets in the second session, including the in-form Rachin Ravindra, as New Zealand stumbled to 201/5 at tea.
Ravindra's dismissal close to the tea break proved instrumental as New Zealand could never recover from the blow and folded in the final session without much resistance.
The young batter looked primed for another big knock but Sundar's brilliance stopped him in his tracks.
Of his seven dismissals in an outstanding spell on a day one wicket, Sundar showed mastery in hitting the off-stump to snare five of his victims bowled, one pinned in front of the wickets while the other caught by fellow tweaker Ashwin.
Among those who were cleaned up by the Indian spinner were Ravindra, Tom Blundell (3), Mitchell Santner (33), Tim Southee (5) and Ajaz Patel (4).
The highlight, however, was the manner in which he cleaned up the in-form Ravindra, who looked good after his efforts of 134 and 39 not out in New Zealand's eight-wicket win in the opening Test.
Sundar pitched the ball just perfectly to have it spinning away from Ravindra's bat and crash into the off-stump, beating the in-form batter fair and square who had otherwise struck a perfect balance in attack and defence.
At the top, Conway managed 76 from 141 balls with 11 fours but he was among Ashwin's three wickets at the top.
The Kiwis' opener used his reverse sweeps against the spinners and drives down the wicket against the Indian pacers to good effect to accumulate his runs, but he had only himself to blame for missing out on scoring a century again.
On an innocuous delivery outside off, Conway went for a stroke but got an edge to be caught behind off Ashwin.
New Zealand's woes compounded when off-colour batters in skipper Latham and Mitchell continued to struggle for runs despite spending considerable time in the middle.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
