Age-old woes to fore as NZ pacers pepper Indians with short balls

Before the start of the first Test in Wellington, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane had spoken about the template which the Indian team needed to follow in order to conquer the Basin Reserve - a ground where the team's record was nothing short of poor. He wanted the batsmen to score 320-330 in the first innings, and that he felt would allow the transformed Indian pace battery to do the rest. However, the rest of the batting line-up was clearly not ready for the challenge.

Skipper Virat Kohli knew that his team was faced with a herculean task against New Zealand after they were put into bat at the Basin Reserve on the opening morning of the first Test, which they eventually would go on to lose on the fourth day by 10 wickets.

Kohli had the trust and confidence on his bowlers but in absence of Rohit Sharma, he knew the young opening duo of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw would have to bat out of their skins to see off the difficult conditions and the exceptional bowling from Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

And what conspired on the first morning was only what he feared. Shaw, after scoring a few boundaries, was undone by a peach of a delivery by Southee. However, little did he know that apart from the two premier New Zealand pacers, it would be debutant six-feet-eight inches tall pacer Kyle Jamieson who would turn out to be chief tormentor for them as the visitors never recovered from the body blow they suffered in the fifth over of the match itself.

Jamieson bowled consistent lines and lengths and made sure none of the Indian batters could afford to play with an attacking mindset. In fact, all the New Zealand bowlers -- apart from left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel -- forced the Indian batters to play on the defensive as they constantly resorted to the short-pitched stuff, which the Indian batters, traditionally, are not comfortable dealing with.

While much credit can be given to the New Zealand bowlers for the way they strangulated the Indian batters, it should also be seen that the Indian batters -- consisting the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane - never tried to counter-attack and were often just found playing defensively. They never tried to break free by stepping down or by showing some intent. Instead, they kept on playing from the wicket, waiting for the bad balls which the New Zealand bowlers just didn't bowl that often.

Result, India were bundled out for mere 165 and that took them way behind in the Test-series opener. The visitors never really got back into the game from there on and were found wanting throughout the match.

They did have a chance to stage a comeback when on the third-day morning, they had the hosts at 225/7. However, as it has been the problem on many occasions, the Indian bowling line-up failed to clean up the New Zealand lower-order. The hosts had a contribution of 123 runs from their last three wickets, which ultimately swelled-up their first-innings lead to 183.

Already down on confidence following their dismal performance in the first innings and the New Zealand tail-wagging, the onus was on the Indian openers to provide the team with a solid platform. However, it was not meant to be. Shaw looked ugly right from the start and was out to a well-directed bouncer by Boult.

Pujara -- who was India's linchpin in Australia -- did bat for more than 60 balls but never looked settled. His downfall came in the form of a rare misjudgment where he left an in-swinging ball from Boult, thus leaving the floodgates open for the New Zealand team. Apart from Rahane and Agarwal, none of the Indian batters showed any sort of application and were always found struggling against the New Zealand pacers.

India's one and only Test win at the Basin Reserve came way back in 1968. Since then, the Indian team has played seven Tests at the venue and have lost five of them. And the record at the beautiful venue in New Zealand doesn't look like it will change any time soon.

If India are to make comeback in the next Test in Christchurch, their batsmen will have to come out with a telling and much-improved performance in order to prevent what would otherwise serve as a huge blow to India's dream of making it to the World Test Championship final slated to be played at the Lord's next year.
-IANS