IND vs NZ 2nd Test: New Zealand lead by 301 runs at Day 2 Stumps, score 198/5
Pune, Oct 25: India's inadequacies against quality spin bowling stood thoroughly exposed, leaving the side staring at its first ever home Test series loss to New Zealand after the visitors claimed a formidable 301-run lead on day two of the second Test here on Friday.
Tom Latham (86) led New Zealand's charge with the bat after Mitchell Santner's brilliant 7/53 destroyed India. His knock consolidated a handy 103-run first-innings lead that the Kiwis had grabbed before reaching 198/5 at stumps.
Tom Blundell (30 not out) had Glenn Phillips (7 not out) for company when stumps were drawn. The only silver lining for India was Washington Sundar's continuing good show. He completed 11 wickets in the match, adding four more to his career-best first-innings haul of seven.
New Zealand are looking at a historic maiden Test series win in India, having first come here in 1955-56.
None of the New Zealand batters faced any apparent trouble batting on the pitch shortly after the star-studded Indian line-up cut a sorry figure for the second time in this series, making elementary mistakes.
In the last Test in Bengaluru, their all-time lowest score at home of 46 all-out caused India's first loss to New Zealand in 36 years in their own backyard.
India haven't lost a Test series at home since their defeat to England in the 2012-13 season and their unbeaten record in 18 series since then is under serious threat now.
India's highest successful chase in Tests at home was 387 against England at Chennai in December 2008.
On Friday afternoon, India folded at a mere 156 in 45.3 overs as spunky New Zealand continued to perform way better than the hosts.
As India endured yet another 'one bad session of play', six wickets fell in the morning for a mere 91 runs which made the pitch look unfavourable for batting when it was not the case.
Skipper Latham led from the front as he blunted the Indian spinners with ease but New Zealand batters deserved full credit for executing their plans.
The Kiwis' batters were formidable in defence while they rotated the strike deftly to keep pressure on the Indians.
Latham did well to raise hopes for a first century since December 2022 but Washington Sundar ended his progress at 86 off 133 balls with 10 fours.
Every added run tightened the screws further on India whose spinners appeared to have been out-bowled by their Kiwi counterparts.
While Sundar completed his maiden 10-for in Tests with 4/56 after his 7/59 in the first innings, R Ashwin took 1/64. Ravindra Jadeja (11-1-50-0) continued to be wicket-less in the game wherein spinners have ruled the roost.
While Santner's orthodox spin tested the Indians' defence and resolve, India's failure to rotate strike added to their woes.
The biggest shock for India in the day arrived in the 24th over when their batting superstar Virat Kohli missed a juicy full toss from Santner to be cleaned up for a nine-ball one.
The sight of Kohli missing an innocuous full toss angling into his wickets, going past his awkwardly swinging bat to crash into the middle and leg stumps and leaving the batter stare at the ground beneath him in utter despair, was something that will linger for some time to come.
Yashasvi Jaiswal had done fairly well to reach 30 with four boundaries but going with hard hands to defend a delivery outside off, spinning away from his bat to take an edge to the first slip, gave Glenn Phillips his first wicket.
If that wasn't enough, Rishabh Pant's (18) failure to read the lack of bounce while going for a mighty heave across the line against the part-time spin of Phillips, resulted in the ball crashing into his off-stump, leaving India in a desperate situation at 83 for five.
Sarfaraz Khan (11), whose recent outings include 222 not out in Irani Cup and 150 in the last innings at Bengaluru, only had himself to blame after recklessly hitting one straight to mid-off for William O'Rourke to grab an easy catch, off Santner.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
