The Indian opener Prithvi Shaw looked very impressive for his 54 run knock until the Kiwi opener pulled off a miracle to stop Prithvi Shaw’s rampage. The Indian opener looked confident for his 54 runs and gave some belief for all the Indian fans but soon threw it away.
The Kiwis were clinical in the field once again as they didn’t leave any chance that came their way except for the misjudgment made by BJ Watling to drop the catch offered by Hanuma Vihari who went on to make a well compiled half-century.
Indians started their innings on a confident note thanks to the brisk start from Prithvi Shaw who showed some real positive intentions with the bat upfront. Though India lost their gritty opener in Mayank Agarwal very early in the innings, Prithvi Shaw ensured that India didn’t lose the temp as he was scoring runs with full flow.
He reached his half-century at almost run a ball and looked comfortable for the first time in the series but in the process of being aggressive hanged his bat to a ball way outside off which took the outside edge and Tom Latham completed the rest by plucking the ball which saw the end of Prithvi Shaw.
Indian skipper’s terrible luck with the toss continued after he failed to win the toss for the 2nd consecutive time in the series and for nth time in SENA conditions.
Tosses won by Virat Kohli in SENA
SA: 1/3
ENG: 0/5
AUS: 3/4
NZ: 0/2*
Win- Loss record when he wins the toss
Johannesburg: Won
Adelaide: Won
MCG: Won
SCG: Draw
The Kiwi captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bowl first on a deceptive green wicket. India were once in a strong position at 194 for 4 with half centuries from Hanuma Vihari, Cheteswar Pujara and Prithvi Shaw but a lower order collapse saw then crumbling to 242 runs in their 1st innings.
The New Zealand openers have started their innings in a steady manner and finished the day 1 at 63 for the loss of no wickets with both the openers looking set for a big score.