The Kane Williamson show continues to haunt India
Twenty-three-year-old Kiwi batsman Kane Williamson, who scored five consecutive fifties in the ODI series, carried forward his form in the first Test at Auckland to slam his fifth Test ton and finished on 113 off 172 balls.
New Zealand's 23-year-old sensational batsman Kane Williamson's purple patch seemly transcended from ODIs to Tests as he scored his 5th Test ton in the final session on the first day of the first Test against India at Auckland.
After Ishant Sharma's twin strikes and Zaheer Khan's one wicket rocked the Kiwis, Williamson assumed the all-too-familiar role of steadying the New Zealand ship. With skipper Brendon McCullum for company, he did that far too easily as the impact of the Indian bowling began to wane away. (Final report)
Scoring 113 off 172 balls, Williamson played some exquisite strokes all-round the park. Williamson displayed his trademark confident and positive demeanour in his approach, putting the bad balls away with a the calm and ease of a seasoned pro. The full deliveries were deftly hit to the straight boundary and the short deliveries pulled and hooked without much trouble. He also took up the onus of going after India's only spin option Ravindra Jadeja and collected a handful of boundaries off the left-arm spinner. (Live Blog)
Williamson scored the first six of the innings, as well as reached his 13th Test fifty with his second six of the innings as he did not hesitate to pull or hook the short stuff that was on offer from the India bowlers. His century included 10 fours and 2 sixes. (Scorecard)
Williamson and McCullum added 125 runs in 27 overs in the second session to pull the Kiwis out of trouble and put the pressure on the visitors who started well in overcast conditions early on. (McCullum leads from the front with eighth Test ton)
Williamson resumed with the same attitude after the tea break and reached his three-figure mark. Having dominated the Indian bowlers in the second and third session, Williamson fell to a soft dismissal off Zaheer Khan, caught behind by MS Dhoni, finishing on 113 from 172 deliveries.