New Zealand is current facing India in the first match of the two-match test series which the latter are hosting. Kanpur-placed Green Park Stadium is holding the present game. While we write, the third day’s play is being conducted and the match seems to be in favor of Team India.
Three biggest takeaways from the match so far have been Shreyas Iyer’s debut 100, Latham-Will opening stand and a super-impressive fifer from Tim Southee. Southee’s bowling has generated applause from every corner of the world. However, he has made made headlines for another reason as well.
Tim Southee pulls Umpire Nitin Menon’s leg
The funny incident happened when the first day’s play neared its fag end. The lights didn’t look ideal to continue the match and thus, Umpire Menon took readings from his light-metre to decide whether the match should be continued or not. Indian team was 4 wickets down with 252 runs on board. Eighty-three overs had already been bowled and umpires were checking if there was a possibility of fitting in a couple more.
This was when Tim Southee appeared to be signalling Menon to come to him as Menon, with his trademark sun-glasses on, obliged. He told Southee how the bad light meant that no more overs could be bowled. Nonetheless, Southee decided to look at the ironical part of it and took the opportunity to troll Menon. Here’s the video of the same:
The video clearly shows Nitin Menon being teased by Southee for wearing sun-glasses. He can be seen pointing at his sun-glasses, inquiring that if the lights are really so bad… Then why is Umpire Menon still wearing his sun-glasses. Don’t they cause an inferior vision? Tim’s sarcasm was top-notch and had Umpire Menon smiling at him before taking his glasses off. The commentators couldn’t help but laugh at this.
While Southee’s jest broke the internet, his swing-and-seam-masterclass on a docile Kanpur pitch didn’t go under the radar either. Southee had taken a solitary wicket before he got injured on Day 1. On Day 2, he still toiled to bowl 11 overs on trot on Day 2, adding four wickets to complete a five-wicket haul which helped NZ in taking India’s last six wickets for just 79 runs.