IND vs NZ: Another batting crumble for Team India? Host lose 7 wickets; under tremendous pressure

What is wrong with Team India? After a fabulous outing against Bangladesh, all their flaws have surfaced in the first two Test matches against New Zealand. While the hosts lost the first Test by 8 wickets, fans expected a better result in the second game. However, Day 2 saw the wickets tumble like a pack of cards, with senior players Rohit Sharma (0 off 9) and Virat Kohli (1 off 9) unable to perform at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday.

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Yashasvi Jaiswal (30 off 60) and Shubman Gill (30 off 72) got off to decent starts, while Rishabh Pant (18 off 19), Sarfaraz Khan (11 off 24), and Ravichandran Ashwin (4 off 5) all departed after posting small totals. With 7 wickets down, Team India is under tremendous pressure and will hope to surpass at least the 259-run mark set by the Kiwis. However, it does not look very bright for the Men in Blue.

Indian fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) are slamming the batters for their poor shots and for allowing even the Black Caps' part-time bowlers to take wickets.

On spin pitches, while our bowlers are better than the opponents, on the other hand our batsmen are worse than them.There was a time when we were considered to be very good at playing spin.#INDvsNZ #Cricket

— Manish मनीष (@meeshmaku) October 25, 2024

Very poor shot selection by Virat, Pant and Sarfaraz on this wicket. #INDvsNZ #virat #pant #RishabhPant #sarfarz #IndianCricketTeam #JioCinema

— Arman Gautam 🇮🇳 (@armanXIV_IX_14) October 25, 2024

This is honestly worse than 46 all out.#INDvsNZ

— Ishan Joshi (@ishanjoshii) October 25, 2024

Now whatever happening is pretty much concerning. This can lead to a series loss . Lower order have to save india once again. #INDvsNZ

— HARSHIT CHOUDHARY (@harshitrohit45) October 25, 2024

For the Kiwis, Mitchell Santner has picked up four key wickets, Glenn Phillips has two, and Tim Southee has one. After 36 overs, India has scored 103 runs and trails by 156 runs.

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke

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