Pacer Matt Henry was chuffed to walk back with a five-for on Thursday, but said New Zealand will have to keep India under the cosh for the rest of the first Test to emerge on the right side of the result.
Henry and his pace colleague William O’Rourke, who took four wickets, bundled out India for 46, their lowest Test innings total at home on the second day of the first match here.
“It’s a pretty special achievement to get a fifer in India. They’re pretty tough to get, but I think, more importantly, we’ve put our team in a good position in the Test match. But we can’t be complacent and we’ve got to keep mounting pressure on them,” said Henry in the post-day press meet.
“We talked about being relentless with the ball, and being patient. I think that was probably something that we looked to do, and thankfully it came off,” he added.
Henry was absolutely stoked for O’Rourke, his teammate from Canterbury, as he kept India on the ropes throughout their innings.
“His height’s the X factor, isn’t it? He gets a lot of bounce. He uses that height at the crease as well.
As you see, he gets a lot of steep bounce off quite a full length as well, making it really uncomfortable, especially with the ball coming into the right hand. He keeps his pace up as well.”
New Zealand were also exceptional on the field as Ajaz Patel, Devon Conway and Henry himself pulled off brilliant catches.
“When you’re getting backed up in the field with those half chances, it obviously creates a lot of energy. When you’re playing on a side like India at home, you’ve got to take those half chances. They don’t come very often. I think it was an outstanding fielding display all day today, and it makes a big difference.”
Henry admitted that New Zealand too would have batted first had they won the toss in the morning, something that must be music to the ears of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit had admitted that he “misjudged” the nature of the track while deciding to bat first.
“I think we were going to bat first too, so probably a good toss to lose. It was quite nice when those clouds started coming in after the toss was done. We were expecting it to be probably a flatter wicket. But there was plenty of assistance this morning, so, it was great that we could make the most of it,” he said.
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