Shreyas Iyer with Ravindra Jadeja put India in a strong position on the opening day

Shreyas Iyer on his Test debut, stitched together an undefeated 113-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja to put India in command at stumps on day one in Kanpur.

On a track that was supposed to aid spin, both India and New Zealand went into the game with similar lineups, opting for three spinners and two pacers.

When India asked New Zealand to bowl first, they took advantage of the conditions to extract movement with the new ball. Kyle Jamieson struck first, removing Mayank Agarwal in the eighth over for the Black Caps. Jamieson forced Agarwal to play and induced a small edge into Tom Blundell’s gloves while bowling in the corridor of uncertainty.

Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara sat in the middle for a while before the former opted to go after the bowlers. Gill went after Ajaz Patel in the 11th over, striking his first boundary of the innings before slamming the left-arm spinner for six and four in the same over.

Shubman Gill quickly reached his fourth half-century in Test cricket

Pujara, on the other hand, was as reliable as ever, exhausting the bowlers in Kanpur’s hot and humid conditions.

At 82/1, both batters got India to lunch safely. The break was just what New Zealand needed, as they scored in the first over the following lunch. Jamieson claimed his second wicket of the day as Gill failed to navigate. A magnificent delivery traveled into him, leaving a wide space between bat and pad.

In the middle, captain Ajinkya Rahane and vice-captain Pujara looked steady. Putting away poor balls for boundaries to help India pass the 100-run barrier.

Tim Southee broke the 24-run stand with a brilliant away seam

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Inducing an outside edge off Pujara’s bat. Kane Williamson’s change of bowling proved to be a masterstroke.

The wicket brought rookie Shreyas Iyer to the crease, who was nervous at first but steadied himself throughout the innings. Jamieson broke through just as Rahane was beginning to look confident and stroking the ball with perfect time. Forcing the Indian skipper to hit onto his stumps, only a ball after Rahane had a caught behind properly reversed by DRS.

After the break, India came out firing, hitting regular goals to put the pressure back on New Zealand.

Shreyas Iyer, in particular, took to both-end spinners, striking four boundaries in the first eight overs

After tea and completing his maiden Test fifty on his debut, being the 30th Indian to do so.

The set Indian batters didn’t have much trouble with the new ball. With a four off the hips, Ravindra Jadeja brought up the 100-run partnership with Iyer. And he was short on his way to his 17th Test fifty.

India was 258/4 at the end of the day, with Iyer 25 runs short of a century on debut. And Jadeja on 50*.

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