Williamson and Latham keep India at bay

Indian bowlers toiled hard for 26 wicket-less overs in the second session as captain Kane Williamson and Tom Latham struck defiant half-centuries to take New Zealand to 152 for one at tea on day two of the first cricket Test here today.
Showing steely resolve and solid defence, Williamson (66) and opener Latham (56) added 117 runs for the unbeaten second wicket, narrowing the margin of to 166 after India folded for 318 in the morning session.
Paceman Umesh Yadav is the only bowler to get success with the wicket of Martin Guptill in the opening session.
Williamson took 115 balls for his 66, that had seven boundaries in it while southpaw Latham has faced 137 balls so far and helped himself with five shots to the fence.

The sun shone bright in the first session but grey clouds started to hover above towards the end of the post-lunch session and the moment tea was taken, light drizzle started.
The umpires asked groundsmen to cover the pitch and the field.

Williamson and Latham were hardly troubled by either Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja as the Green Park pitch did not offer much assistance to the spinners.
Except for the last few overs, the two Kiwi batsmen remained untroubled even as they survived two incidents where they almost lost their wickets.
Williamson swept Ashwin often and also stayed on the backfoot, waiting for the balls to decide his stroke. Latham also remained solid against both the spinners and pacers.

The visiting captain survived when he tried to sweep Ashwin. He missed the ball that hit him on the back of the helmet, taking off the flap, which hit the stumps but bails were not dislodged.
It happened in the 32nd over when Williamson was on his individual score of 39.
With strike bowlers not making any impact, Kohli asked part-timer Murali Vijay to bowl his off-breaks. He almost got Latham on a full toss, which the batsman missed. The ball struck the pads, but the umpire shot down the vociferous appeal for LBW.
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There was more drama in the next over when Latham swept Jadeja from outside off stump and the inside edge bounced off his shoes to forward short leg fielder. However, the TV umpire ruled him not out since the ball had touched the helmet grill before Lokesh Rahul caught the ball.

Latham completed his eighth Test fifty in the next over by guiding a Ashwin delivery to covers for a couple. Three balls later, the New Zealand captain also completed his 23rd Test half-century with a single off Jadeja.
Williamson scored at a decent pace as his fifty came off just 78 balls with five boundaries.
In the first session, resuming at 291 for nine, Jadeja (42 not out) unleashed a few boundaries to take India past the 300-run mark as he added 41 runs for the last wicket with Yadav (9).
The left-hander countered the short balls from Trent Boult with pull shots and used feet against left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner.

India added 27 more runs to their overnight total before Yadav was caught by BJ Watling off paceman Neil Wagner.
When India bowled, Jadeja was introduced into the attack by skipper Kohli as early as third over of the Kiwi innings even as none of the two spinners could get a wicket. The left-arm spinner bowled with four close-in fielders to put the visiting batsmen under pressure.
Kohli took off Umesh Yadav after just one over but persisted with Mohammed Shami from one end. Shami kept bowling at a teasing outside off stump line, keeping the Kiwis under check.
Yadav was brought back and he immediately struck by trapping Guptill (21) in front of the wicket with a ball that swung in.

Guptill's aweful run continued as he has managed only one half-century in his last seven innings now.
A few boundaries were scored when Guptill was at the crease but runs mostly came in ones and twos with Williamson and Latham batting cautiously.
The 50 of New Zealand innings came in the 15th over when Latham swept Ashwin for a single.
Williamson's first boundary was a sweep shot going over the field to mid-wicket region off Ashwin and later he dispatched the same bowler to leg-side boundary from a full toss.