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New Zealand‘s last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel held their nerve to earn Black Caps a dramatic draw in the first Test against India at Green Park in Kanpur on Monday.
New Zealand started the final day on a positive note by not losing any wicket in the first session. The pair of Tom Latham and night-watchman William Somerville added a 76-run stand for the ✃second wicket to keep Indian bowlers at bay.
However, Indian bowlers made a comeback in the second session and dominated in the final session. First, Umesh Yadav sent back Somerville to provide the much-needed breakthrough, then Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of set batsman Latham💟, which opened the floodgates as New Zealand kept losing wickets.
Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets while Ashwin bagged three scalps. Similarly, Axar Patel and Umesh took one wicket each. However, they failed to put the last nail in the coffin. The visitors lost their ninth wicket in the 9🐟0th over, and from there, the last pair of Ravindra and Patel batted till 98 overs before the umpires called off the proceedings due to bad lights. Ravindra faced 91 balls for his unbeaten 18 while Patel played 23 deliveries.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Incredibly gutsy performa�🤪�nce. Proud of all you lads!
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh)
A debut to remember! Rachin Ravindra 18* (91 balls) and 2* (23 balls) bat out the final session in Kanpur to secure a DRAW and valuable WTC points for th𒀰e team at Green Park. Scorecard | |
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS)
Drawing a Test is ꦜan art. Well played, New Zealand.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14)
Oh we 🌠love Test cricket 🏏 what the finish in Kanpur.
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93)
And the have further jus♈tifꦕied their position as World Test champions by doing something very few teams manage to do in India, save a Test by batting out the whole of Day 5
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07)
Kiwis hold on by the barest of margins
— Andrew McCormack (@_AMcCormack7)
Two Kiwi players of Indian origin ♊save the Kanpur Test for New Zealand!
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
The Great Escape. Phenomenal fight from NZ. There’s merit in five day test cricket. There’s magic in hard fought draws. You know if you know. Not enough life in the wicket, but 🙈enough life in the match.
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru)
Imagine naming y💯our kid Rachin Ravindra – after Sachin & Rahul – and him growing up to play cricket & earning world champions New Zealand a draw in his debut Test as cricketer, denying Drav🤪id on his debut Test as India coach by 1 wicket. Scenes!
— Zenia D'cunha (@ZENIADCUNHA)
