Rahane-Dhoni stand hurt us: Watling

New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling was disappointed after his team gave India a 247-run first-innings lead on the second day of the Wellington Test. He said a bad day on the field meant the New Zealanders faced three days of hard work.

“It wasn’t exactly a perfect day for us,” Watling said. “We found ourselves in situations where if we had taken one or two more wickets, we could have been chasing 100 or 150. Obviously it was a disappointing result at the end, but we still have three days to sort it out. The field definitely looks a lot better.”

Watling paid tribute to the Indian batsmen who played relaxed cricket and scored 438 runs. “The credit should go to their batsmen,” he said. “(Shikhar) Dhawan obviously played very well at the top and got them off to a good start and (Ajinkya) Rahane’s hundred was pretty good. He played very well. MS) Dhoni’s counter attack hurt us and this partnership was probably the difference between a good day and a great day for them. If we had taken a wicket there, we could have been right in the hunt.”

At the end of the day, New Zealand were 24 for 1, trailing India by 233 runs. Watling said he is confident of improving batsmanship as the wicket has settled in well.

“The wicket has definitely improved. The first day she was pretty green and worked a bit,” Watling said. “It still had enough for the bowlers today, but it has darkened and now looks like a pretty decent batting track. We’re looking forward to taking on this challenge and trying to fight for the long haul as a group. This will be a huge challenge. We will have to fight for a long time to get back into the game.

“(Ishant) Sharma bowls very well, as does (Mohammad) Shami, and Zaheer (Khan) is an experienced bowler. for a long time. But I don’t think there are too many demons in the wicket at the moment and it will be at its best tomorrow.

“There is still a good attitude in the dressing room. The bowlers ran hard and bowled well today and we appreciated their efforts. Now the batsmen have the opportunity to try to score as many runs as possible and bat long. We know what lies ahead and now it’s time to try to fight back,” Watling said.