Images from Day 2 of the ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand, at The Hampshire Bowl, in Southampton, on Saturday.
Virat Kohli led a resolute batting effort by India against a high-quality New Zealand attack in testing conditions before bad light brought an end to Day 2 of the World Test Championship final, at The Hampshire Bowl in Southampton, on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma (34 off 68) and Shubman Gill (28 off 64), opening for the first time in England, showed remarkable application against the moving ball to share a 62-run stand before Kohli (44 not out off 124 balls) came into his own with a steely knock to guide India to 146 for 3 at stumps on a start-stop second day.
The skipper received good support from Ajinkya Rahane (29 not out off 79 balls) in the final session, when bad light stopped play twice before the umpires called it a day.
Just 64.4 overs were bowled on Saturday, including only 9.1 in the final session. The opening day was washed out.
As expected, Kohli was ready for the challenge posed by an all-seam attack on an overcast day. He played late and close to his body, was happy to leave balls outside the off stump and cashed in on the slightest of scoring opportunities.
With the Dukes ball moving around, Kohli paid due respect to the bowlers, particularly Colin de Grandhomme, who bowled three successive maidens to the India skipper.
He was happy leaving anything outside the off-stump and was quick to score runs when bowled into the pads.
Such was Kohli's intent that he did not hit a single boundary in the session.
Pujara, at the other end, needed 36 balls to open his account, a cut shot off Wagner that went for a boundary.
Like Shubman Gill, earlier in the day, Pujara too was hit on the helmet but the blow from Wagner did not seem to bother him much.
Soon after, the gritty batsman was trapped in front by Boult, another left-armer, who swung it back enough sharply to beat the batsman.
Earlier, openers Rohit and Gill did well to withstand an initial swing onslaught with disciplined batting before New Zealand’s pacers reduced India to 69 for 2 by lunch.
After the opening day was rained out, cooler and overcast conditions at the Hampshire Bowl made it a no brainer to bowl first and Kane Williamson did just that.
India decided to go in with the playing eleven they announced two days back despite a change in conditions, while New Zealand went in with a four-prong pace attack at the expense of a specialist spinner, with all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme being the fifth seam bowling option.
Opening for the first time in England, Rohit (34 off 68) and Gill (28 off 64) came into the middle with a clear gameplan and applied themselves brilliantly against the potent pace duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
As he often does, Rohit batted with an open stance to negate left-arm pacer Boult's trademark in-swingers while Gill stood outside his crease to tackle Southee's out-swingers. There were moments when Gill was not afraid to come down the track.
Gill, who had played the short ball extremely well in his debut series in Australia, pulled Boult off the front foot for India's first boundary of the final.
Rohit got going with a couple of fours off Southee in the following over; one, a cut through point and the other a thick edge past the slip cordon.
Gill welcomed Kyle Jamieson into the attack with a lovely straight drive off an in-swinger.
The New Zealand bowlers struggled to keep things tight as India reached 41 for no loss in 11 overs, without a maiden over bowled. No runs were scored for the next three overs as the openers did a fine job to survive the first hour of play.
The young Gill took a nasty hit on his helmet grille after Jamieson caught him by surprise with a sharp bouncer.
The lanky pacer provided the much-needed breakthrough by having Rohit caught at third slip, Southee taking a terrific catch.
Neil Wagner sent Gill back in his first over with the one angling away and straight into the hands of wicketkeeper B J Watling, scripting New Zealand's late fightback in the session.
Cheteshwar Pujara (0 off 24) and skipper Virat Kohli (6 off 12) were in the middle when lunch was taken.
Earlier, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field.
Persistent rain washed out the entire opening day's play on Friday and Williamson said the overcast conditions prompted his decision to put India in to bat.
"The conditions, a bit of weather around, hopefully we can make use of the first hour, get a bit of seam movement," Williamson said.
New Zealand went into the match with an all-seam attack, leaving out spinner Ajaz Patel and picking all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme instead.
India had announced their playing eleven on Thursday, playing both their spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, and picking veteran Ishant Sharma as the third seamer ahead of Mohammed Siraj in their five-man attack.
"We'd have probably bowled first as well looking at the conditions but putting runs on the board has been our strength over the years, and that's something we are going to back," India captain Virat Kohli said.
Organisers have allocated a reserve day to make up for lost time.
The one-off match marks the culmination of a two-year cycle of the inaugural WTC, launched in 2019 to create a pinnacle event for Test cricket.
