Southee keeps India honest in Kanpur

When Tim Southee limped off mid- way through an over on day one of the first test against India, matters looked exceedingly bleak for the Black Caps amid the Kanpur smog.

The veteran bowler needed treatment for a groin injury, leaving the visitors temporarily with just one quick bowler as the hosts aimed to make a hefty total batting first.

While he returned to action, he was notably hampered by the injury and there would have been fears from New Zealand players and fans alike that Southee might not be able to front on day two yesterday.

Instead, he shone amid the gloom in a beautiful spell with the second new ball as New Zealand continued to make inroads into India’s batting, despite a century on debut from Shreyas Iyer.

Southee took four wickets in the session and had figures of 5-69 off 27.4 overs as India went to lunch at 339-8 after the hosts resumed their first innings at 258-4 at Green Park.

Kanpur is regarded as one of the most polluted cities in the world and the Air Quality Index was reported as climbing into the ‘hazardous’ zone for the players after the smog was also prevalent on day one.

That didn’t bother Southee as the 32-year-old, even after he had an lbw appeal rejected in his opening over on day two against Ravindra Jadeja that New Zealand reviewed unsuccessfully but removed the same batter the next over.

While Iyer went happily about his business with a string of boundaries that helped him score a maiden test century, Southee kept chipping away

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at the rest of the home team lineup.

His mastery of outswing removed wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and Iyer fell first ball after the drinks break. The 26-year-old made 105 from 171 balls to be the mainstay of a batting lineup missing star performers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, striking 13 fours and two sixes.