Naturalised wicketkeepers. Naturalised No. 5s. Tom Latham and KL Rahul played lovely impactful innings – 69 off 48 and 88* off 64 – after walking in in the 29th over of their respective innings, but Latham had a more fluent No. 4 he was supporting as New Zealand chased down 348 to end an eight-match losing streak in international cricket. Under pressure for his inability to get New Zealand over the line in the T20Is, one of the elite ODI batsmen in the world, Ross Taylor, played a blinder, 109 not out off 84 balls.
In another similarity between the two innings, India’s No. 4, Shreyas Iyer, too scored a maiden international hundred, but he was allowed to score at only a run a ball despite a late onslaught. Those middle overs when Iyer and Virat Kohli could add 102 in 20 overs might just have been the difference between the sides.
You might want to criticise a pitch as too batting-friendly if it allows 348 to be chased down with consummate ease, but there was a bit in it for the bowlers. In the afternoon, there was just enough nip for Colin de Grandhomme and James Neesham to bowl 16 overs for just 93 runs and pick up one wicket. One of those was to a teasing de Grandhomme delivery that debutant Prithvi Shaw nibbled at. There might be a bit of that in the Tests too. The other debutant, Mayank Agarwal, cut fiercely, but straight to point to make it 54 for 2. – Cricinfo
