Ajinkya Rahane and Co are all set to take on New Zealand in the 1st Test of the two-match series in Kanpur today, on November 25. With no first-choice players in the team, India will be hoping to keep their unbeaten run in Tests against Kane Williamson and co, dating back to 1988. While Rahane is battling an existential crisis, Ishant Sharma will be aiming to keep his form going.
Ahead of the match, captain Ajinkya Rahane revealed that Shreyas Iyer will be making his debut but refused to divulge anything about the playing XI.
Under Ravi Shastri, India won 25 of the 43 Tests, a win percentage of 58.1 that is nearly unmatched since the turn of the millennium. Only Anil Kumble – 12 wins in 17 Tests – boats of a better record.
Under head coach Rahul Dravid, India will be eyeing precious wins against New Zealand, South Africa and England in July. Having finished second in the inaugural World Test Championship, India will be hoping to go all the way this time with Dravid at the helm.
Before the match starts, here are some of the stats.
– Ravichandran Ashwin, in five home Tests against New Zealand, has scalped as many as 45 wickets at an average of 15.91. This included six five-fors and three 10-fors.
– The last time New Zealand won a Test match in India was in 1988. At that time, only four members of their current squad were born. Among the four was Ross Taylor. He was only four years old then.
– For Shreyas Iyer, the Kanpur Test will be his first first-class appearance since an Irani Cup fixture in February 2019.
– The last time Rahane played a home Test against New Zealand, he hit his career-best of 188. In 49 Tests since, he averages only 33.07 and his career average dropped from 51.37 to 39.63.
What to expect:
The Kanpur venue has hosted 22 Tests in all. The first one was way back in 1952. Only four Tests have happened in Kanpur since 2000 – and only one in the previous decade, in 2016. Incidentally, the last time a Kanpur Test happened, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked up 16 of the 20 opposition wickets. A repeat performance can be expected.
What Ajinkya Rahane said ahead of the match.
“Preparation has been really good. We got five days in Mumbai, which I thought was really good. It was all about how to conquer spin and bounce, and what sort of shots we need to play. The idea was to get used to the pace and bounce in spinning conditions and then back ourselves. We had two practice sessions in Kanpur so we’ve got an idea of how the wicket will behave so we’re ready.”
Squads (from):
India Squad: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat, Jayant Yadav
New Zealand Squad: Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell(w), Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William Somerville, Neil Wagner, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra
