There must have been something in the air

Five days of worrying about how bad the Kanpur smog may be for the health of the Black Caps, and in the end it helped kill off India’s chance of victory.

Such a wonderfully poetic finish to an intriguing test played in the most prosaic of surroundings would have added extra cheer for New Zealand cricket fans who blearily woke yesterday with fewer fingernails but more admiration for the world test champions.

Kane Williamson played down the effects of the smog, but he’s so phlegmatic he’d likely play down an invitation to become Prime Minister.

The Air Quality Index said otherwise, rating most days of the test as ‘hazardous’ and akin to smoking five cigarettes a day – which may have been fine for New Zealand players in the 1950s and ‘60s, or even in the Rothmans-sponsored tests of the ‘70s, but not for this generation’s finely-tuned athletes.

The delight of a draw is almost solely the domain of test cricket. Its only rival is football, where coming from 3-0 down in the second half to level, or as an underdog reduced unfairly to 10 men to deny the favourites a win via dogged, heroic defending, is a joyful experience.

The latter was akin to New Zealand’s first test draw at Kanpur, which gave them four points in their first match of the new World Test Championship campaign that may be vital in the defence of their crown.

To stave off India’s expected charge to victory on the final day courtesy of their fearsome threepronged spin attack was mostly down to the skill and application of a number of players, beginning with Tom Latham and Will Somerville and ending with Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel.

Bar Latham, that’s an unlikely quartet of key performers with the bat, which gave an extra twist to the final day’s drama.

Such is the power of recency bias that even as the umpires checked their light meters with all the urgency of a teen with their phone at dinner time, Somerville’s contribution with the bat may have already been undervalued.

The epitome of a journeyman cricketer, the 37-year-old offspinner couldn’t take a wicket in either innings, as his opposite, Ravichandran Ashwin, captured six to take his test haul to 419, making him India’s third-most prolific test wicket-taker.

But employed late on day four to protect Williamson, Somerville batted for the entire first session on the final day with aplomb rarely seen from a No 10 and highlighted the beauty of the fourinnings game and the duality of roles in test cricket that offers every chance for a matchchanging contribution.

It was unmissable that the last pair at the wicket for the Black Caps have deep Indian links – Patel was born there, as were Ravindra’s parents – and while the game in New Zealand continues to struggle to expand its appeal and participation with the Mā ori and Pasifika community, it is increasingly enriched by arrivals from the Asian subcontinent.

India’s decision to leave several star players sidelined with an eye to a tour of South Africa that is now in doubt due to the latest pandemic developments did allow debutant batter Shreyas Iyer to star with a century and a fifty, but the absences of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami hurt them. Whereas Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson took 14 wickets between them, Ishant Sharma was wicket-less and fellow paceman Umesh Yadav had two victims.

New Zealand’s harshest critics may have baulked at the tourists not having more of an eye on potential victory, but that approach was unrealistic in alignment with conditions and history and more in keeping with how expectations around this side over recent years have risen to near unimagined heights.

It was unmissable that the last pair at the wicket for the Black Caps have deep Indian links.