By V.N. Prasad

Green Park’ Kanpur wore a smoggy/foggy look — morning till evening on all the days. The Ball kept low and indifferent. Last day was a thriller. Proverbial ‘heart in the mouth’ situation prevailed as the 9th wicket of the Kiwis fell with 9 minimum overs to come; over the remaining time span of roughly 40 minutes.

Our bowlers had ploughed through the Kiwi top and middle order to smell victory. Ashwin flighted and spun the ball sharply. Axar and Jadeja pushed the ball through the air hoping that ‘one’ cheater would penetrate the defense of the last pair to register a victory.

But, the Karnataka-born lad Rachin Ravindra and Bombay-born lad Ajaz Patel stretched and bent over to smother the efforts of all our spinners till the minimum 90 overs. Umpires held out the light meter and gave it to the Kiwis and thus the 1st Test ended in a ‘tame draw.’ Full marks to the No. 10 and 11 of New Zealand side for the ‘copy book’ style of defending without any rush of blood.

It was in the year 1969, Gundappa Vishwanath, the 5 foot and quarter, scored a magnificent 137 on debut at this venue — Green Park — against the mighty OZs. Six footers Graham McKenzie and Alan Connolly showered bouncers with the new ball breezing past Vishy’s shoulder, nose and head.

Standing strong and solid, Vishy belted 25 boundaries (100 runs) in the classic essay. ‘Blue eyed’ boy of skipper Pataudi, Vishy entertained the crowd with his classic cover drives, exquisite square cuts, flicks off the toes, slashes past backward gully and delicate leg glances as the mighty OZs stood in awe of the little master.  The world acknowledged the fact that Vishy was a World Class Test Batsman. We were stuck to our transistors. Rest is history.

Fifty-one-years later, it was Shreyas Iyer to register his century on debut against the Kiwis. We have known Shreyas as an impulsive T20 batter more than a red ball exponent. Amidst the rush of blood here and there, he scored a good looking 105 in the 1st innings and followed it up with a well-crafted 65 in the 2nd.

We must admit with honesty that his knocks in both the innings were the saving grace for us in the Test. We wish him all the best going forward and hope that he will prune and polish his craftsmanship to exhibit endurance and cement his place through consistency.

The Green Park also saw the ‘Spin  Wizard’ Ashwin becoming the 3rd highest Indian wicket taker  in Test Cricket; behind Anil Kumble (619 wickets) and Kapil Dev (434 wickets) when he bagged the crucial wicket of Tom Latham. Ash surpassed Bhajji in the endeavour. Bhajji in his glorious career of 103 Tests bagged 417 wickets. Ash has 418 wickets in 81 Tests. Our hearty congratulations to the 35-year-old young wizard on his grand achievement and hope that he will go past Kapil if not Kumble.

In the Test, Tom Latham and Will Young showed excellent calibre and temperament as openers; though Young was unlucky in the 2nd innings in his dismissal. Somehow skipper Kane Williams and Ross Taylor could not get their eyes and feet in. Middle order and lower down looked vulnerable.

Sorry. Our batting line up never looked impressive either on paper or on ground. Mayank Agarwal, Shubhman Gill, Chatteshwar Pujara, Skipper Rahane were all at sea — never in the class of Test calibre. It was painful to see Jadeja, Ashwin and Saha partnering Shreyas to pull us out of woods in the Test. We hope better sense will prevail upon the selection committee to cut off the dead wood and bring  in a few youngsters who are warming the benches, to broaden batting dimensions.

Lastly, we appreciate the grand gesture of Coach Rahul Dravid who presented a purse of Rs. 35,000 to the grounds men of Green Park for having prepared a true wicket.

Best to both the teams as they play the 2nd and final test at Mumbai.