The first test match of the two test match series between India and New Zealand ended in a draw.
Indian spinners dominated the whole match. Team India even grabbed 9 Kiwi wickets in the second innings but Rachin Ravindra held one end to lead the result towards the draw.
The match was a really thrilling contest and a great example of how great test matches are.
The ground staff of Green Park, Kanpur led by Shiv Kumar was paid an amount of Rs. 35000.
The amount was paid by none other than the new Head Coach of Team India, the test legend himself Rahul Dravid.
the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) said “We would like to make an official announcement. Mr Rahul Dravid has paid Rs 35,000 personally to our groundsmen,”.
Rahul Dravid has always been known for his sportsmanship and fair play. He gave that money to the ground staff as a token of gratitude for preparing a sporting pitch.
Rahul Dravid believed that the pitch was a perfect sporting pitch as batsmen like Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Tom Latham and Will Young were able to perform really well with bat.
Kiwi fast bowlers like Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson decimated the Indian top order and Indian spinners bagged 17 wickets.
Rahul Dravid appreciate his spinners
The new head coach, Rahul Dravid was still able to see the silver lining in the disappointing draw of the first test match.
Rahul Dravid called the pitch on the stump day 5 “quite an unresponsive” track as even the outside edges were not coming into play.
Team India got nine Kiwi wickets but failed to break the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel, which resulted in the draw.
He said in spite of the unresponsive pitch the spinners managed to perform really well.
“We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session. It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch, three in that session and five in the last session.
“With a little bit of luck, it would have gone our way I think, guys really fought hard,” Dravid said after the match.
The trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel grabbed 17 wickets in the first test match and were the most dominant throughout the match.
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