Latham, Young put Kiwis in command after Iyer's ton

New Zealand openers adjusted to the slow and low track to raise an unbeaten 129-run alliance at stumps

- Shantanu Srivastava

KANPUR: Tom Latham and Will Young stitched an unbeaten 129run partnership as New Zealand ended Day 2 ensuring that anything is still possible in this Test. It was a riveting day of play that had a bit of everything—Shreyas Iyer reaching a wonderfully crafted century on debut and becoming the sixteenth Indian player to do so. A cascade of wickets followed as Tim Southee gave a masterclass in how to use foggy, dewy conditions on a largely unresponsive wicket. Then the morning turned to day and for 57 long overs, the Indian bowling attack tried everything they could but simply could not budge the Kiwi openers.

Right-handed Young, playing only his fourth Test and first in Asia, scored the second half-century of his career and remained unbeaten on 75. His partner Latham, a tenacious southpaw with 59 Tests behind him, was batting on 50 when the stumps were drawn at the Green Park Stadium.

Earlier, Iyer brought up his hundred in the eighth over of the day, when his soft defensive prod to Kylie Jamieson went past a diving gully for a brace.

Iyer’s innings and Ravichandran Ashwin’s 38-run knock pushed India’s tally to 345—not what they would have had in mind when Day 1 had ended with Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja looking so well set together. Southee had other plans. He bowled an unbroken spell of 11 overs to pick up four wickets to set up the day for New Zealand.