Kiwis trapped

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

kanpur, September 25

India are on the verge of another dominant Test win at home, courtesy their spin bowling. The hosts have driven the under-pressure, terrorised New Zealand batsmen into a corner — chasing 434 to win the first Test, the visitors are reeling at 93/4. Their chances of making a comeback seem impossible in the wake of the sustained onslaught by the Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. 

New Zealand have lost their two most experienced batsmen — skipper Kane Williamson (25) and Ross Taylor (17) — and it seems unlikely that they would bat all day long tomorrow to save the match. If there’s some hope, it’s provided by the two unbeaten batsmen. Luke Ronchi (38) and Mitchell Santner (8) have thwarted the Indian spin attack for 15 overs. The immediate target for the New Zealand batsmen is to survive. The target of 434 seems very distant.

Chase in trouble

When the New Zealanders came out to bat with 37 overs remaining, Virat Kohli handed the new ball to Ashwin in the second over, and he weaved his spin web by scalping Martin Guptill (0) and Tom Latham (2) in his second second over. Guptill failed for the second time in the match, inside-edging the ball to his pads, to be caught by Murali Vijay at silly point. Latham was flummoxed by a straighter delivery which trapped him LBW.

Williamson (25) and Taylor (17) resisted the spin for close to 14 overs before Ashwin had Williamson LBW when the captain missed a flick — for Ashwin, it was a good dismissal to have for his 200th Test wicket. Taylor fell when he made the blunder of not grounding his bat while completing a run; a direct throw by Umesh Yadav from midwicket at the non striker’s got him. New Zealand were suddenly reduced to 56/4 and it was left to Ronchi and Santner to avoid further damage. Ashwin got three wickets, but Jadeja has done well too, keeping the batsmen on a tight leash. He bowled a staggering 10 maiden overs during his 14-over spell. Out of the 84 balls he bowled, 80 were dot balls.

India batting

India started the day at 159/1, with Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara looking to stretch the lead. The brief overnight shower put more bite into the wicket as the New Zealand spinners got good turn and bounce in the morning session. Their perseverance finally paid off as Santner had Vijay trapped LBW in the day’s 10th over. 

Skipper Virat Kohli (18) looked for quick runs, making his intent clear with a pull off Sodhi through the midwicket region and a couple of other cheeky boundaries. But his slog-sweep off Mark Craig resulted in a top edge that was caught by Sodhi at deep midwicket.  Kohli’s wicket was Craig’s 50th in Test cricket.

Two overs later, Pujara (78) was undone by a sharp turning delivery from Sodhi, bowling around the wicket. With India at 228/4, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane (40) looked to consolidate the innings. Seven overs into the second session, Rahane was brilliantly caught by Taylor in the slip cordon off Santner.

India’s declaration

After that, Rohit (68 not out) and Jadeja (50 not out) stole the show, putting India in a position of strength with an unconquered 100-run partnership. Jadeja, promoted to No. 7 to accelerate the scoring, played his role to perfection, hitting three huge sixes and two fours en-route his 58-ball innings. 

Rohit, facing criticism because of his seemingly careless dismissals in Test cricket, struck his first Test half-century in eight innings, his first after August 2015. He paced his innings well and mixed caution with aggression to hit eight boundaries. He completed his 1,000 runs in Test cricket during his knock today.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 318

NZ 1st innings 262  

India 2nd innings (overnight 159/2)

KL Rahul c Taylor b Sodhi 38

M Vijay  lbw b Santner 76

C Pujara c Taylor b Sodhi 78

V Kohli c Sodhi b Craig 18

A Rahane c Taylor b Santner 40

Rohit Sharma not out 68

R Jadeja not out 50

Extras: (B-1, LB-9) 9

Total: (5 wkts decl, 107.2 overs) 377 

FOW:- 1-52, 2-185, 3-214, 4-228, 

5-277

Bowling

T Boult 9-0-34-0

M Santner 32.2-11-79-2

M Craig 23-3-80-1

N Wagner 16-5-52-0

I Sodhi 20-2-99-2

M Guptill 4-0-17-0

K Williamson 3-0-7-0

New Zealand 2nd innings

T Latham lbw b Ashwin 2

M Guptill c Vijay b Ashwin 0

K Williamson lbw b Ashwin 25

L Taylor run out (Yadav) 17

L Ronchi batting 38

M Santner batting 8

Extras: (LB-2, NB-1) 3

Total: (4 wkts, 37 overs) 93 

FOW:- 1-2, 2-3, 3-43, 4-56

Bowling

Mohammed Shami 4-2-6-0

R Ashwin 16-1-68-3

R Jadeja 14-10-8-0

U Yadav 3-0-9-0