Images from Day 1 of the second Test between India and New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
All-rounder Washington Sundar justified his selection with a career-best 7/59 to bowl out New Zealand for 259, before India suffered a late blow as captain Rohit Sharma perished early in their first innings on Day 1 of the second Test, in Pune, on Thursday.
India crawled to 16/1 in 11 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal (6 not out) and Shubman Gill (10 not out) at the crease, trailing by another 243 runs in the first innings.
Tim Southee cleaned up Rohit for a nine-ball duck, forcing the hosts to be extra cautious wary of another Bengaluru like debacle in the first innings.
Rohit, who was cleaned up for the third time in the series and for the second time by Southee, was completely squared up as the Kiwi senior pacer produced a beauty to move away enough and crash into the stumps.
Southee became the first pace bowler to take a wicket in this Test after a dominating show by the Indian spin duo of Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/64), who did not allow New Zealand to break free, despite half-centuries from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra.
The 25-year-old Sundar, playing his first Test for India since March 2021, ran through the New Zealand middle and lower order after Ashwin claimed the first three wickets in the innings to move past his Australian peer Nathan Lyon in the list of highest wicket-takers in Tests.
Ashwin began by trapping New Zealand captain Tom Latham (15) leg before wicket and Will Young (18) caught behind in the first session, while Sundar took the centrestage towards the end of the second.
While he was measly to begin with as New Zealand batters looked to consolidate, Sundar reaped rich dividends for his perseverance.
He swung the momentum in India's favour with two late wickets in the second session, including the in-form Ravindra, as New Zealand stumbled to 201/5 at tea.
Ravindra's dismissal close to the tea break proved instrumental as New Zealand could never recover from the blow and folded in the final session without much resistance.
The young left-hander looked primed for another big knock but Sundar's brilliance stopped him in his tracks.
Of his seven dismissals in an outstanding spell on a day one wicket, Sundar showed mastery in hitting the off-stump to snare five of his victims bowled, one pinned in front of the wickets while the other caught by fellow tweaker Ashwin.
Among those who were cleaned up by the Indian spinner were Ravindra, Tom Blundell (3), Mitchell Santner (33), Tim Southee (5) and Ajaz Patel (4).
The highlight, however, was the manner in which he cleaned up the in-form Ravindra, who looked good after his efforts of 134 and 39 not out in New Zealand's eight-wicket win in the opening Test.
Sundar pitched the ball just perfectly to beat Ravindra on the outside edge as the ball crashed into the off-stump.
At the top, Conway managed 76 from 141 balls with 11 fours but he was among Ashwin's three wickets at the top.
The Kiwis' opener used his reverse sweeps against the spinners and drives down the wicket against the Indian pacers to good effect to accumulate his runs, but he had only himself to blame for missing out on scoring a century again.
Conway went chasing at a wide delivery but only managed an edge to be caught behind off Ashwin.
New Zealand's woes compounded when off-colour batters in skipper Latham and Mitchell continued to struggle for runs despite spending considerable time in the middle.
Latham was trapped leg before wicket by Ashwin for 15 to continue his poor showing in the series, while Mitchell was trapped leg before wicket for 18.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat on a dry pitch which is likely to get increasingly difficult to bat.
India made three changes their team as Mohammed Siraj, K L Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav made way for Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and Shubman Gill, while the Kiwis made just one change, bringing in left-arm spinner Mitchell Santer in place of injured pacer Matt Henry.
New Zealand lead the series 1-0.
