Kane Williamson and skipper Brendon McCullum led New Zealand's sensational fightback with individual fifties as the hosts reached 179 for three at tea on the opening day of the first cricket Test against India, here today.
Indian bowlers went wicketless in the post lunch session as Williamson and McCullum raised an unbeaten 149-run stand for the fourth wicket to stabilise the New Zealand's sinking ship after they had been reduced to 30 for three halfway through the morning session at Eden Park.
Williamson was unbeaten on 79 runs (115 balls, seven fours, two sixes) while McCullum scored 71 not out (12 fours), making the visiting bowlers toil hard once the sun came out and the early swing vanished.
This was Williamson's sixth consecutive fifty in all formats of the game, coming on the back of his superb run in the recently-concluded one-day series against the same opponents, in which the Kiwi star shone with five consecutive 50s on the trot.
Ishant Sharma (2-39) was the most successful bowler, with Zaheer Khan (1-67) chipping in as well. Mohammad Shami (0-44) was unlucky not to have taken a wicket in either session, even as Ravindra Jadeja (0-20) did not look like taking one in his short spell. Virat Kohli (0-4) bowled one over as well.
Williamson (22 not out) and McCullum (5 not out) started off after lunch, looking to repair the damage from the morning session and re-build the innings. Their approach was a mix of caution and punishing the bad deliveries of which there were plenty as the conditions eased out.
Wind carried away the cloud cover from the morning and finally the sun came out as prominent swing from the morning session vanished.
Even so, Shami managed to induce an edge from Williamson in the 29th over of the innings, five overs after the re-start, only for Murali Vijay to put it down at first slip.
The batsman was on 32 at that time and did not present another chance throughout the remainder of the session, instead scoring some beautiful shots all over the Eden Park.
The 50-run partnership between the two came in the 30th over and from there in, they pressed on with the scoring.
