The second test match between India and New Zealand gets under way in Mumbai on Friday and after the first contest ended in a draw, any winner here will claim the series.
India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of the T20's at the start of this tour but the first test match saw New Zealand battle their way to a draw.
India won the toss and opted to bat first on what turned out to be a slow and low pitch at Knapur. Shreyas Iyer top scored with 105 and there were 50's for Gill and Jadeja in their total of 345. Southee with 5 wickets was top NZ bowler.
New Zealand replied with 296, the bulk of which came from openers Latham (95) and Young (89) and Axar took 5 of the Black Caps wickets.
India declared their second innings on 234/7 with Iyer (65) again in form and Southee and Jamieson claimed 3 wickets each.
It set up a thrilling final day and whilst Latham (52) held firm for New Zealand, regular wickets set up a tense finale. When New Zealand's ninth wicket (Tim Southee) fell after 89.2 overs the light was fading but NZ still held out to over 98 when play was called off with around 12 minutes remaining.
Shreyas Iyer was named Man of the Match though there were some great contributions from players from both sides.
Virat Kohli is expected to return after being rested for the first test and this was how the teams lined up at Kanpur.
India -Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand - Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William Somerville
Recent Form
These two sides contested the one off World Test Final at Southampton in June and New Zealand won it by 8 wickets. India posted totals of 217 and 170 to New Zealand's 249 and 140/2. Kyle Jamieson was Man of the Match with 5 wickets in the first innings and 2 in the second, Kane Williamson made scores of 49 and 52 not out.
The Betting
India are currently trading at around 11/20 to win the game with the draw a 4/1 chance and New Zealand can also be backed at around 4/1
Kohli is 22/10 to top score for India in the first innings and Williamson is 21/10 to do likewise for New Zealand
All markets are available here
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
The first match was a treat for fans of test cricket with all 3 results looking possible deep into the game. Kohli's return could tip the scales in India's favour but I will look to the exotics for a bet.
There is plenty of guts and talent in that NZ top order and although this surface will reportedly be a lot more lively than Kanpur I will side with any visiting batsman to make a century in the first innings.
The form of Shreyas Iyer earns him a speculative vote to top score for India in their first knock and finally a speculative play on the all round talents of Jadeja in the Man of the Match market.
Bets: Any NZ batsman to score 100 in the first innings? (yes) at 27/20
Top India 1st Innings Bat Shreyas Iyer at 11/2
Man of the Match Jadeja at 17/2
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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