Christchurch: Ajinkya Rahane dug deep and tried to stem the rot after India lost early wickets in the second innings on Day 2 of the second Test here on Sunday.
With a slender lead of seven runs after New Zealand were bowled out for 235 in reply to India’s 242, Test specialists Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara took their time and looked to see out the final session before Neil Wagner came to haunt India’s five-day vice captain.
It was intense, as Wagner often is, but it riled even the usually calm Rahane up and the pair exchanged looks and even had a few words to say.
Wagner almost had his man, but Colin de Grandhomme grassed a simple catch when he was batting on two. But in the end, not much damage was done as Rahane chopped a Wagner delivery onto the stumps, bringing to an end a bizarre knock of nine from 43 balls.
For the workhorse he is, Wagner kept bowling at the probing channel outside off-stump teasing Rahane. At the other end, Pujara also tried hard to negotiate the bounce on a challenging Hagley Oval wicket.
Earlier, Indian opener Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw failed once again while skipper Virat Kohli was trapped in front by de Grandhomme, extending his lean patch.
India were 51/3 at one stage before Pujara and Rahane joined hands, but the pair could not make much headway as Pujara was also castled by Trent Boult.
India are 0-1 down in the two-match series after losing the first Test by 10 wickets.
