New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Will Young dominated the Indian bowlers to put the visitors in a commanding position at the end of the second day’s play in the first Test at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium on Friday. 

Both Latham and Young notched fifties to become the first opening pair in nearly five years to stitch a century partnership in India against India. England’s Alaistor Cook and Keaton Jennings were the last opening pair to build a century stand in India, doing so in Chennai in December 2016. 

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Latham has faced 155 deliveries for his 50 runs, which include four boundaries, while Young has found the boundary 12 times in his 180-ball 75. 

The openers survived a few scares, with Latham using the reviews wisely to thrice overturn out decisions by the umpire. He was first adjudged LBW off Ishant Sharma, but reviews showed he had edged the delivery before it crashed onto his pads. 

He was again given out LBW when he clearly had a big inside edge and the out decision by the umpire was quickly overturned following a review. Later, he was adjudged to have edged a delivery to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, with replays showing he brushed his bat on the pad instead of the ball. 

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Young had a much closer call, when he missed an attempted paddle sweep which struck him on the pads. Distracted by the LBW concerns, he almost ran himself out, but he made it back in the crease with a dive. India took a review for the LBW, which confirmed the ball was missing leg stump. 

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer became the 16th Indian batsman to score a century on his Test debut. Veteran Kiwi pacer Tim Southee was India’s tormentor-in-chief, finishing with figures of 5/69 for his 13th fifer in Test cricket. 

Iyer’s ton was one of the few bright spots for India as they were bundled out for 345 after starting the day at 248 for the loss of five. The 26-year-old scored 105 from 171 deliveries and stitched a valuable 121-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja (50) for the fifth wicket. 

Shubman Gill (52) also scored a half-century, while Ravichandran Ashwin (38) scored some handy runs lower down the order.