When did India last play Test match in Kanpur and what was the result?

India and Bangladesh will play the second Test match starting on Friday in Kanpur. The last time India played a Test match at the venue was against New Zealand in November 2021. The game ended in a draw as New Zealand batters played out the Indian bowlers in fading light to secure the draw. 

The game saw two debutants Shreyas Iyer and Rachin Ravindra playing Test cricket. Regular skipper Virat Kohli wasn’t part of the game while Rohit Sharma too had taken a break. In the absence of a regular skipper, Ajinkya Rahane led the home team. 

New Zealand on the other hand were playing India for the first time since their meeting in Southampton earlier in the year. The two sides had met in the finals of the opening World Test Championships which the Kiwis had won by 8 wickets. 

New Zealand pulled off a draw against India in the Kanpur Test

It was the Indian side which batted first and scored 345 on the board. Shreyas Iyer making his Test debut scored a century. The right-handed batter scored 105 from 171 balls with 13 fours and 2 sixes. 

Shubman Gill (52) and Ravindra Jadeja (50) were the other main contributors. Tim Southee was the best bowler for the Kiwis with 5/69 while Kyle Jamieson picked 3 wickets and Ajaz Patel picked 2 wickets. 

New Zealand responded with 296 runs in their 1st innings to give India an overall lead of 49 runs. Tom Latham batted for 282 balls and scored 95 runs having batted for over 400 minutes. Will Young was the next best batter with 89 off 214 balls as Axar Patel picked a fifer for the home team. 

In the 2nd innings, New Zealand reduced the home team to 51/5 at one stage. Tim Southee removed Mayank Agarwal for 17 and Jadeja for a duck. Jamieson on the other hand got the wickets of Shubman Gill for 1 and Pujara for 22. Skipper Rahane scored just 4 before falling to Ajaz Patel. 

Shreyas Iyer did well in the 2nd innings as well as he scored 65 off 125 balls with 8 fours and a six. Wriddhiman Saha scored an unbeaten 61 off 126 balls with four boundaries and a six. 

The Kiwis were given a target of 284 to win, and the Indian spinners did the track. Ravindra Jadeja picked 4 wickets, R. Ashwin picked 3 wickets and Axar Patel picked 1 wicket. Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel the last pair batted for 52 balls to add 10 runs before bad light came into play. The game eventually ended in a draw as the visiting side showed great resilience.