New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson said all of the Blackcaps’ five-strong pace attack had helped put a brake on India’s progress in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final at Southampton on Saturday.
Pace bowling all-rounder Jamieson took a miserly 1/14 in 14 overs after New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss following a complete washout of Friday’s opening day.
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But none of the bowlers proved expensive as India made 146-3 from 64.4 overs before the third of Saturday’s bad light stoppages led to an early close.
“It’s probably pretty even at the moment,” said Jamieson, who ended a promising opening stand of 62 between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. “It was a pretty good day of Test cricket.
“They (India) played really well, they put away the bad balls when they were there and they were really patient outside off (stump).”
Jamieson, who bowled first change behind the established new-ball duo of Tim Southee and left-armer Trent Boult, added: “Our plan was to stick around there and credit to them, they played pretty well. But I think we were able to keep things relatively restricted and grabbed three important wickets as well.
“It’s obviously pretty crucial to try to keep the ball in reasonable areas for long periods and those runs are there, but it was just good to halt the momentum a little bit.”
Jamieson had Rohit out for 34, with the aid of an excellent slip catch by Southee, to spark a collapse that saw India lose three wickets for 26 runs.
But from then on India captain Virat Kohli and the experienced Ajinkya Rahane kept New Zealand at bay to be 44 and 29 not out respectively at stumps, with their unbroken partnership so far worth 58 runs.
India batting coach Vikram Rathour was pleased by the way the top order dealt with overcast conditions that aided swing bowling and made batting difficult in what is the team’s first Test match since March.
“(Kohli and Rahane) batted well, I would give a lot of credit to Rohit and Gill as well because they started off really well,” he said.
“They were challenging conditions when we started. It was a fresh wicket, we lost the toss and it was overcast all day, so credit to all the batters.
“They showed a lot of restraint and a lot of discipline. We handled it pretty well.”
Inputs from AFP