Day 1 of the first Test of the two-match series between India and New Zealand is currently in progress at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The hosts have got off to a decent start after deciding to bat first despite losing Mayank Agarwal early in the first 9 overs itself. Shubman Gill has led the way with the bat along with Cheteshwar Pujara with the Indian team aiming to post a big total on the board in the first innings.
This is a comeback game for Gill who was injured and ruled out of the England tour after the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand. He was certain to take Virat Kohli’s spot at number four in the Kanpur Test but with KL Rahul getting injured, Gill came out to open the innings with Agarwal.
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And Shubman Gill was looking too good pouncing on the opportunity as the opener for the Indian team. He has smashed five fours and a six in his half-century so far and has looked extremely elegant in his stay.
After surviving a tricky phase early on when the new ball swung, Gill started to play his shots and one of them came off Ajaz Patel in the 17th over which went for a massive six. The left-arm spinner flighted his first delivery of the over.
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Shubman Gill didn’t waste the opportunity to use his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and smash it down the ground over long-on for a massive six. It was an authoritative shot from the batter showing ominous signs to come for New Zealand.
Here’s the video of the six:
— Simran (@CowCorner9) November 25, 2021
As far as the playing combinations are concerned, India handed a Test debut to Shreyas Iyer which didn’t seem to be coming 48 hours before the game. An injury to KL Rahul led to Shubman Gill opening the innings and that opened up a slot in the middle-order for Iyer. There was a temptation to play six batters for the hosts as well but they have decided to go with their set template of five bowlers.
