India’s cricket team suffered a record low in the first Test against New Zealand at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru when they were dismissed for 46—their lowest Test total at home. The innings was particularly grim as five Indian batters, including some of India’s most established players like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, all got dismissed for a duck, a record only previously seen by the team in 1999 against New Zealand.
The weather in the morning was perfect for the New Zealand pacers, specifically Tim Southee, Matt Henry, and Will O’Rourke. India got off to a poor start and lost their first scalp just after the seventh over. The Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who decided to bat after winning the toss, accepted his mistake of assessing the pitch condition wrong, saying, “I am a little bit sad because of that.”
During the match, former head coach Ravi Shastri was commentating, and he was not sparing with words when it came to the batting effort. He jokingly described the affair as a duck party because of the excessive number of zeroes added to the scorecard. He said, “It’s unheard of in India; lowest score, the team has been bowled out for 46,” and added that all three players caught in slips were dismissed for ducks.
Only Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 13 and Rishabh Pant scored 20, which clearly indicates that the batting department could not come to terms with struggling conditions. The team’s decision-making has come under scrutiny, especially the decision to promote Kohli to No. 3 instead of Rahul, who was in good form in that role.
As India looks forward to two more Test matches in this series, they need to get back to the drawing board if they are to avoid further humiliation and come up with a better performance against the New Zealand side.
