India had their, by far, the best day on the tour of New Zealand as they take the driver’s seat at stumps on the second day of the second test at Wellington. Indian batsmen controlled the proceedings right from the word go on the second day’s morning and it was well backed up by the bowlers at the end of the day as they picked up the first wicket of New Zealand’s second innings in the very few overs that they had to bowl.
India began the day brightly with overnight not out batsman Shikhar Dhawan batting on 84 and night watchman Ishant Sharma on 3. Sharma went on to score a crucial 26 and played the first hour of the day when the Kiwi seamers looked the most threatening. Dhawan missed out on a deserved ton nicking one to the keeper of Tim Southee on 98. Virat Kohli looked solid for his 38 while Rohit Sharma went out for a duck dragging one way outside the off-stump on to his stumps. Just when it looked like that the Kiwis had made an inroad through the Indian batting line-up, Rahane stood tall to take India’s score past 400. He set up two good partnerships, first with Kohli and then with Dhoni (68), to take the attack to the opposition. He got rewarded for such brilliant batsmanship as he went on to score his maiden test hundred. When he got out to 
an absolutely stunning one-handed catch by Trent Boult in the deep while batting on 118, India’s lead had crossed the 200-run mark. Ravindra Jadeja (28) and Zaheer Khan (22) also made crucial contributions towards the end as India finished their first innings on 438 with a massive lead of 246.
As the kiwis came to the middle to bat for half an hour, their openers lacked confidence in their application. The immediate result was the fall of the wicket of Peter Fulton (1) when the score was just 1. Kane Williamson came on and showed his maturity and prevented any further damage. Zaheer Khan was the bowler who gave the Kiwis the early blow. Hamish Rutherford, the opener is still out there as New Zealand has managed to score 24/1 before the umpires have called it a day.
Tags: Ajinkya Rahane Ajinkya Rahane century Ajinkya Rahane debut century Ajinkya Rahane scored maiden century Dhoni Hamish Rutherford india India vs New Zealand Ishant Sharma Kane Williamson Peter Fulton Rahane Ravindra Jadeja Rohit Sharma Second test Shikhar Dhawan Tim Southee Trent Boult Virat Kohli Wellington test Zaheer Khan
