Indian batsmen looked a bit indecisive against the short ball: Jamieson

Christchurch: New Zealand fast-bowler Kyle Jamieson reflected on India’s batting approach on day one of the second Test against India here and was immensely satisfied with his team’s all-round show.

Jamieson was the pick of New Zealand bowlers in India’s first innings effort of 242all-out, finishing with a maiden five-wicket haul in only his second Test. It was his spell that saw India crumble from 194/4 to lose their final six wickets for mere 48 runs.

The 25-year-old assessed India’s attacking approach as opposed to the first Test in Wellington, and added that there was an element of uncertainty whenever the ball was pitched short.

“The wicket does not do as much as it does in Wellington,” Jamieson told reporters at the end of the day’s play. “We had to stick there for long periods of time. The ball was still moving a little bit. They played a few more shots than they did in Wellington. The pitch probably allowed them to, but I guess their guys looked a bit indecisive against the short ball.”

It took New Zealand only 63 overs to bundle out India, before openers Tom Latham and Tom Blundell guided them through to 63/0 at stumps to round off a dominating day. Jamieson, who got the key wickets of half-centurions Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwar Pujara before running through the Indian lower-middle order, was pleased with the all-round show, an ICC report said.

“When you win the toss and bowl first, bundling the opposition out is a pretty good way to go,” said the tall pacer.

“As a bowling unit, we were good in the first Test and we were good here. We were clear in our plans and we bowled in partnerships. Probably the highpoint for me was to see how good we were as a team, to take 10 wickets and restrict the Indians was pretty special. To be no wickets down at stumps marks a pretty good day of Test cricket for us.”

Hanuma Vihari, who top-scored for India with a fluent 55, reflected on his game-plan of playing positively and rued the poor timing of his own dismissal that came in the last over of the second session.

“As Pujara was playing at one end and I wanted to take that lead and play positively because he is a player who will play for a lot of time. We know that,” the right-hander explained his attacking instincts.

“So I didn’t also want to take time and put pressure on Pujara or on our innings because if you don’t keep scoreboard moving you will get stuck like in the last game. That’s why I decided to play positively and take them on.”

“It was a wrong time to get out just before tea as we had a good session. I was batting positively but I played one shot too many.”
The 26-year-old said that India’s batting failure had more to do with the batsmen’s shot selection than the pitch.

“They bowled in good areas and knew what to expect from this track. Prithvi set the tone, Pujara spent time. All dismissals happened at wrong time. None of the dismissals were because of the pitch. Mostly it was because of batsmen’s error.

“The pitch will slow down on day three and four. It played according to our imagination. It’s a fair wicket.” (UNI)