In Kanpur, curator Shiv Kumar and his team prepared a sporting wicket that did not make any significant difference for five days, supporting both the batsmen and the bowlers. Apart from the fact that the balls often did not get the expected bounce from the wicket, the pitch at Kanpur was supported by both the batsmen and the bowlers alike. Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha, Tom Latham and Will Young were the brightest batsmen in both the teams. They have proven that batting patiently on the pitch will pay off.
In bowling, spinners and pacers benefit equally from the pitch. While the Indian spinners dominated the Kiwis, the Kiwis had the upper hand. The Kiwis took 17 of 19 wickets in two innings, while the Indian spinners took 14 of the 17 wickets taken by Kiwis pacers Kyle Jaimison and Tim Southee. The quality of the pitch was evident in the fact that even on the fifth day, when batting was generally difficult, the spinners did not search the ball too much.
The match was born of an exciting draw. If New Zealand had taken one more wicket in the match, India would have won. However, the Indian bowlers were unable to break the resistance of New Zealanders Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel. Chasing a target of 284, the Kiwis were bowled out for 165 for nine.
The Kanpur Test lasted till the last ball of the final session of the fifth day amidst the regular spectacle of Test matches in India ending on the fifth day.
Anyway, Dravid’s move to reward the ground staff in Kanpur is getting a big round of applause. Since taking over as India’s coach, Dravid has been making new changes every day. Dravid had brought back the old tradition of the Indian team. Dravid has brought back the practice of giving caps by former Indian players to players making their debuts for India. Ajit Agarkar made his ODI debut for India while Herschelle Patel made his ODI debut while Shreyas Iyer made his Test debut while Sunil Gavaskar presented the cap to the players.
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