Tail wags, India seams ahead

Rohit Mahajan

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Tribune News Service

Kolkata, October 1

Wriddhiman Saha, displaying the fine art of playing with the tail, shepherded India to 316 all out from the overnight 239/7. It was up to New Zealand to now match or exceed this total to stay alive in the Test. Their hope of winning the series is partially dead; to revive it, the visitors must win this Test — and to do that, their batsmen needed to step up when their turn came this morning.

The conditions were not easy. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami were accurate and sharp with their swing, the bounce was unpredictable, and the Kiwi openers were in trouble immediately. Shami beat Tom Latham’s inside edge with one that seamed in to trap him LBW in the second over. Martin Guptill had been beaten by Bhuvneshwar in the first over; in the third over, Guptill first left an outswinger, then got beaten by another. What if Bhuvneshwar brought one in? That’s exactly what Bhuvneshwar did with the fourth ball and Guptill didn’t know how to react; too late, he decided to leave the ball, but it bounced more than expected, hit his elbow and crashed into the stumps. At 21/2, New Zealand went to a very unsatisfactory lunch.

Bhuvneshwar got Henry Nicholls, playing in place of the indisposed skipper Kane Williamson, in the second over after lunch. Nicholls has played six Tests before this one, all this year, but this is his first Test in Asia. The fourth ball from Bhuvneshwar’s sixth over was angled in and was going down the leg-side, yet Nicholls still managed to inside-edge it to his stumps.

Fightback

Then ensued the best phase of the innings, lasting 18 overs, accruing 62 runs. Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi staged a fightback. Ronchi hit Shami for a four and a six and got lucky when Gautam Gambhir — fielding for the flu-struck Cheteshwar Pujara — dropped him at short point. A very tough chance, for Ronchi had smashed the ball, but still a drop. When Ravichandran Ashwin was introduced, in the 16th over, Ronchi and Taylor got 13 off the over. Jadeja was less expensive and more effective, and twice beat the inside edge of Ronchi’s bat with turn-less balls but couldn’t get the LBW decision. When Ronchi was given out by umpire Rod Tucker, LBW, the ball may just have been missing the leg stump. Asked about the “rough decision” later, Ronchi said: “I think I got away with one against Jadeja today... You can’t complain.”

Immediately after Ronchi’s dismissal, it began to rain and the entire ground was covered. When play did resume at 4 pm, more than two hours after the rain first started falling, the conditions had become more difficult — the floodlights were on, the atmosphere was heavy with moisture, the wicket suddenly had more juice and bounce.  In no time, New Zealand were in deeper trouble.

Taylor, perhaps not seeing the red ball very well under the lights, pushed indecisively at one from Bhuvneshwar and was caught at slip. Mitchell Santner (11) then missed one that kept low and was trapped LBW. Next ball, Bhuvneshwar bowled Matt Henry with one that came in and kept low — 122/7. New Zealand were sent reeling by India’s pace; and with the pitch likely to crack and deteriorate, there is worse in store for them. 

5/33

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has recorded his first instance of five wickets in an innings in Tests in India. His previous best figures in Tests in India were 3/31 vs Australia at Mohali in March 2013. Kumar has registered four five-wicket hauls in Tests - two vs England and one each vs New Zealand and West Indies.

6th 

Kumar is the sixth Indian fast bowler to produce five-wicket hauls vs New Zealand in Tests. He has joined Zaheer Khan (four times), Ishant Sharma (twice), Javagal Srinath (twice), Ramakant Desai and Madan Lal.

Martin Guptill has been a mediocre performer in Tests in his last seven innings - the sequence of scores being 11, 7, 8, 0, 21, 0 & 13.

54 

Not out is Wriddhiman Saha’s(in pic) highest Test score at home surpassing 36 vs South Africa at Nagpur in February 2010.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings: 316

New Zealand 1st innings

M Guptill b Kumar 13

T Latham lbw b M Shami 1

H Nicholls b Kumar 1

R Taylor c Vijay b Kumar 36

L Ronchi lbw b Jadeja 35

M Santner lbw b Kumar 11

B Watling not out 12

M Henry b Kumar 0

J Patel not out 5

Extras (B-5, LB-4, W-5) 14

Total (7 wkts; 34 overs) 128

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-18, 3-23, 4-85, 5-104, 6-122, 7-122

Bowling 

B Kumar 10-0-33-5

M Shami 11-0-46-1

R Jadeja 8-3-17-1

R Ashwin 5-2-23-0