Virat Kohli cracked an impressive 93 not out to lead an Indian recovery on the second day of the second and final Test against New Zealand in Bangalore on Saturday. The 23-year-old hit one six and 12 fours in his second successive Test half-century as the hosts, struggling at 80-4 at one stage, reached 283-5 in their first innings at stumps in reply to New Zealand’s 365. Kohli, who made 58 in the last Test, added 99 for the fifth wicket with Suresh Raina (55) and 104 for the unfinished sixth-wicket stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni (46 not out) to keep alive his team’s hopes of gaining the lead.
India trail by 82 runs with five wickets in hand. Dhoni, who scored 73 in the opening Test, hit off-spinner Jeetan Patel for two successive sixes in his 70-ball knock which also contained five fours. “Virat and I had a good partnership and now he and Dhoni are batting. Hopefully we can put a lot of runs on the board and the match is going to be interesting in the next three days,” said Raina. “Whenever I got the ball in my area I made sure of batting positively. I have done well in one-day internationals, so hopefully I will do better in Test cricket too. When I get a chance again I would look to score a big one.”
India, who won the opening Test by an innings and 115 runs, lost experienced Virender Sehwag (43), Gautam Gambhir (two) and Sachin Tendulkar (17) before Kohli, Raina and Dhoni propped up the innings. New Zealand’s pacemen bowled well to keep pressure on India, with Tim Southee finishing the day with 3-35 and Doug Bracewell with 2-66.
“Obviously with the new ball it’s nice to bowl and swing it, and we were lucky to pick up a few wickets there. India came back well after lunch as the ball got a bit older,” said Southee.
“The wicket is pretty good, so I guess now it’s an important time for us with the second new ball to see if we can pick up the rest of the wickets.”
Raina, trying to cement his place in the middle order, was caught by wicket-keeper Kruger van Wyk down the leg-side off Southee after hitting one six and nine fours in his seventh Test half-century.