The Indian cricket team could not get a wicket against New Zealand in the last over at Kanpur. The first match of the two-Test series ended inconclusive. In this match, the thrill remained till the last over and with the hope of victory for India, the match ended in a draw. The clash between the last pair of New Zealand and the Indian bowling continued for 9 overs before the end of the match and finally the match was saved by the Kiwi team.
The Indian team may not have won the Test match that concluded at Green Park, but Team India coach Rahul Dravid seemed happy with the pitch here. Describing the Green Park wicket as better for Test cricket, Dravid happily gave Rs 35,000 to pitch curator Shiv Kumar and ground staff.
This player making his debut tired the Indian bowlers for one and a half hours, the dream of Kanpur Test was broken
After the match, Dravid called the pitch curator Shivakumar to the middle ground and praised the pitch, saying that for the first time in my career I have seen such a better wicket in a Test match at Green Park. It is an ideal Test wicket which is better for Test cricket.
Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first. The Indian team scored 345 runs in the first innings on the basis of debutant Shreyas Iyer’s century. After this, on the strength of superb bowling, India piled up the Kiwi team for 296 runs in the first innings. In the second innings, Iyer scored a half-century and captain Ajinkya Rahane scored 234 for 7 and set a target of 284 runs. New Zealand’s team struggled and scored 165 for 9 wickets and eventually saved the match.