NEW DELHI: The Indian team suffered an embarrassing collapse on Thursday as Rohit Sharma and Co. were bundled out for their lowest Test total ever at home on the second day of the rain-marred Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
After the opening day was washed out due to rain, India surprisingly opted to bat first in overcast conditions.
The decision quickly backfired as India, after a watchful start, lost wickets at regular intervals.New Zealand thoroughly enjoyed the conditions as India batters perished one after another, leaving the fans in complete disbelief.
Five batters — Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin — were dismissed for ducks while openers Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal returned back to the pavilion for 2 and 13 respectively.
Rishabh Pant was the top-scorer for the side amid a humiliating show, mustering 20 runs.
Soon after India’s unreal collapse, out-of-favour batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara became top trends on social media.
The veteran duo has been on the sidelines for quite some time as the selectors have moved on from them and were looking to give more opportunities to younger players.
To go with Rahane-Pujara trends, the fans and pundits were also highly critical of the batters’ performance at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
At Lunch, India found themselves tottering at 34 for 6 and after the break their slide against a quality Kiwi pace attack continued.
R Ashwin was the first one to go after the break followed by Pant. The last two wickets for the Kiwis were Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, who scored 1 and 2 respectively.