India post 105/1 against NZ

India recovered from the early dismissal of opener Lokesh Rahul to post 105/1 at lunch on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand here on Thursday.

Murali Vijay (39) and Cheteshwar Pujara (34) were at the crease at the break.

Vijay smashed four boundaries in his 89-ball innings while Pujara notched up five hits to the fence during his 58-ball stay in the middle.

Rahul scored at a decent rate, posting 32 runs off 39 deliveries. His innings was studded with four boundaries and a six.

Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (1-33) was the only Kiwi bolwer to bag a wicket in the morning session.

Earlier, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test of the three match series against New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium here.

India are contesting their historic 500th Test. The hosts are playing with six batsmen, two fast bowlers and two spinners while the visiting New Zealand are playing with three spinners and two fast bowlers.

India have won 10 Tests under Kohli's captaincy.

Brief scores:

India 105/1 (Murali Vijay 39 batting, Cheteshwar Pujara 34 batting; Mitchell Santner 1/33) vs New Zealand.

--IANS

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