article main image
India vs New Zealand: ‘Showed his teammates how to bat’ - Scott Styris lauds Mayank Agarwal, decodes his approachBy Hindustan Times

New Zealand's tail wagged and the last three wickets added 132 runs - this ensured the hosts led India by 183 runs at the end of their first innings. The task was cut out for the Indian openers and they had to survive the opening burst of the Kiwi bowlers. However after a bright couple of boundaries, Trent Boult got rid of Prithvi Shaw and this put further pressure on India. This is when Mayank Agarwal's class and pedigree came to the fore and he dug deep to soak up all the pressure. He brought up his half century in the session after Lunch and looked the best Indian batsman on display.

INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND, 1ST TEST, DAY 3: LIVE SCORE AND UPDATES

Speaking about his approach, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said that Mayank played the perfect innings for New Zealand conditions and he showed the rest of the batting order how to survive and score runs.

"For a player with limited international experience, he showed his teammates how to bat in New Zealand. Anytime he got a half volley he would stroke it away, anytime he got width he put it away and that is simple batting in New Zealand. You have to wait, when the conditions are helping fast bowlers, you wait for width and you wait for overpitched deliveries. It is that simple, it is nothing more than that. It was outstanding," Styris told the host broadcasters at the Tea interval.

ALSO READ: Ishant Sharma equals Zaheer Khan in elite Test list with fifer in Wellington

Mayank Agarwal reached his half-century but India lost Cheteshwar Pujara just on the stroke of Tea as his erred in judgement and shouldered arms to an incoming delivery by Trent Boult and lost his stumps. India ended the session on 78 for 2 and still were behind New Zealand by 105 runs.

Ishant Sharma (5/68 in 22.2 overs) remained the stand-out bowler for India. Ravichandran Ashwin (3/99) also got a couple of wickets in the morning but then he bore the brunt of Kyle Jamieson and the lower order.