Jadeja takes five, Vijay, Pujara thrive

KANPUR: From a position of strength, New Zealand are staring at a possible defeat in the first Test against India. For close to two days, India were in a difficult position, but, on an eventful third day, the hosts wrested the advantage after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ran through the Black Caps’ batting order to bowl them out for 262 in their first innings.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay have provided the third instance when two Indian batsmen have recorded 50-plus scores in each innings of a Test match vs New Zealand. AFP

Sabi Hussain

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Kanpur, September 24

From a position of strength, New Zealand are staring at a possible defeat in the first Test against India. For close to two days, India were in a difficult position, but, on an eventful third day, the hosts wrested the advantage after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ran through the Black Caps’ batting order to bowl them out for 262 in their first innings.

India earned a crucial 56-run lead and, later on, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara piled on more misery on the visitors with an unbeaten 107-run stand for the second wicket.

At the draw of stumps, the hosts were 159/1 in their second innings, and Vijay (64) and Pujara (50) are the unbeaten batsmen. Indiahave stretched their overall lead to 215 runs.

Vijay-Pujara shine

This was Vijay and Pujara’s second successive 50-plus score in the match. The only loss for India came in the form of KL Rahul, who fell for 38 to leg-spinner Ish Sodhi on the last ball before tea.

However, it was Ashwin (4/93) and Jadeja (5/73), who stole the thunder on the third day. They did their reputation no harm by flummoxing another overseas team on a spinner-friendly pitch.

New Zealand had started the day at 152/1, with Kane Williamson (75) and Tom Latham (58) looking to consolidate their team’s position. Both had been successful in keeping Ashwin and Jadeja at bay on the second day. But, on the third day, New Zealand were bundled out in less than two sessions. The visitors lost nine wickets today for just 110 runs.

In the morning session, New Zealand lost four wickets while adding 86 runs. After the lunch break, they could only manage 24 runs before being bowled out. New Zealand had taken lunch at 238/5 as Luke Ronchi (38) and Mitchell Santner (32) had been trying to build the innings. Both had taken their team to 255/5 before Jadeja trapped Ronchi plumb in front of the wicket. Black Caps completely lost the plot from there on and lost their last four wickets for just four runs.

New Zealand were in a bit of trouble in the morning session itself when Ashwin and Jadeja spun a web around them to polish off their top order. Latham, Ross Taylor (0) and Williamson were dismissed in a span of nine overs with the addition of just 18 runs to their overnight score of 152/1. After the triple strike, New Zealand suddenly found themselves struggling at 170/4.

Ashwin provided the opening when he had Latham trapped leg-before. He drifted the ball into the left-hander from around the stumps as Latham looked to play it on the front foot. The ball, after pitching on the middle-stump line, hit Latham’s front pad to end his 151-ball vigil at the crease.

Jadeja strikes

In the very next over, Jadeja got Taylor LBW, but the TV replays showed the ball was drifting down the leg side.

Then came the prized scalp of Williamson, who was undone by a gem of a delivery from Ashwin, which turned viciously from the rough. It pitched outside off as the Black Caps skipper looked to play it through the cover region. But it came back in sharply to crash on to his middle and off stumps.

Jadeja, too, was mixing up his deliveries with the straighter ones. Ronchi and Santner briefly steadied the ship by stitching a 49-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Both used the crease well, often stepping out to play against the spin. Ronchi even hit Ashwin for two back-to-back boundaries through the cover region. Just when the duo looked threatening, Jadeja again did the trick for India. Ronchi tried to play a cross-batted shot to Jadeja’s fuller length delivery, resulting in his dismissal.

Jadeja was on a hattrick when he got Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi off successive deliveries but Trent Boult thwarted his bid. Boult, though, did not survive long as Jadeja scalped him in the same over.

When Indians came in to bat, there was no visible sign of discomfort in playing spin.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 318

New Zealand 1st innings

M Guptill lbw b Yadav 21

T Latham lbw b Ashwin 58

K Williamson b Ashwin 75

L Taylor lbw b Jadeja 0

L Ronchi lbw b Jadeja 38

M Santner c Saha b Ashwin 32

BJ Watling c&b Ashwin 21

M Craig lbw b Jadeja 2