Nightwatchman Mohd Siraj: Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bagged his 14th five-wicket haul and Washington Sundar claimed four wickets to bowl out New Zealand for 235 but Indian batters committed harikari, losing three wickets in 10 minutes to slump to 86/4 at the end of the first day of the third Test at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had shared a half-century partnership for the second wicket, with the Mumbai opener surviving some anxious moments and scoring 30 off 52 balls, hitting four boundaries. He and Gill added 53 runs for the second wicket before Jaiswal started the 10 minutes of brain fade for the Indians, going needlessly for a reverse sweep with only three overs remaining for the day.
Jaiswal missed the reverse sweep off Ajaz Patel and the ball turned in to hit the stumps. Nightwatchman Mohd Siraj departed for a golden ball duck off Patel and India’s troubles were compounded when Virat Kohli ran himself out for four, leaving the red-faced.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, who was put down by William O’Rourke near the fine-leg boundary, was caught by his counterpart off a thick edge as he shaped up to play defensively to a length ball just outside off-stump by Matt Henry.
Gill, who survived a chance as an edge off his bat struck keeper Tom Blundell on the helmet, struck Ajaz Patel for back-to-back fours and jumped out to hammer Phillips for a fine six. He and Jaiswal reached fifty of their second wicket partnership off 58 balls.
At stumps, Gill was batting on 31 with Rishabh Pant on 1 and India will look up to them to bat sensibly to take them as close to the New Zealand score as possible. India have done poorly in their first innings throughout this series, which has resulted in them trailing 0-2 coming into the Mumbai Test.
Battling to avoid a 0-3 whitewash, the Indians opted for a rank turner and Jadeja and Sundar strangled the New Zealand innings as the ball turned and bounced on the first day itself.
On a hot and humid day that took a lot out of all players, Jadeja claimed 5-65 landing double strikes twice while Sundar bagged two wickets apiece in the morning and evening sessions for his 4-81 as the Indian bowlers exploited the turning track to the fullest. They shared nine wickets between them while Akash Deep claimed 1-22 in five overs as Ravichandran Ashwin went wicketless (0-47 in 14 overs).
New Zealand have to thank Will Young and Daryl Mitchell for helping them to a decent total as they shared an 89-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Young scored a patient 71 while Mitchell top-scored with 82 off 129, hitting three fours and three sixes. Only four of New Zealand’s batters reached double figures as the visitors lost six wickets for 76 runs.
It was a day for the spinners as they claimed 11 of the 14 wickets that fell on Friday even though it was difficult to grip the ball because of excessive sweating because of humidity.
Earlier, the near-identical dismissal of Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra by Sundar, after Akash Deep had given India the breakthrough by trapping Devon Conway lbw for four, was the highlight of the morning session as New Zealand reached 92/3 at lunch.
Sundar, who was brought in as the second change to replace Akash Deep, struck two quick blows to grab the initiative for India. He first castled Latham with a superb delivery that landed on the off-stump and straightened, evaded the bat and rearranged the furniture. Latham perished for 28 off 44 balls, hitting three boundaries.
The big breakthrough for India was sending back Rachin Ravindra cheaply as Sundar repeated the delivery that got Latham, sending this one from wider of the crease to spin past the defensive prod to clip the off stump. This was the third time in a row that Ravindra was bowled by Washington Sundar, who was a bit untidy and bowled five no-balls in his first spell of 12 overs.
Will Young, who showed his attacking instinct by using his feet and carting Ashwin over wide long-on off for a six and swept Sundar to the left of the keeper for a boundary, kept going from the other end and got good support from Daryl Mitchell as they took New Zealand past the 150-run mark with an 89-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Young was a bit lucky as a couple of edges fell away from the fielders and a DRS review by India was turned down. But he made the most of the opportunity and scored a fighting half-century before his luck ran out against Sundar.
Mitchell survived when he got a decision for LBW overturned as he gloved it onto his pad. All the New Zealand batters struggled with the hot and humid conditions, using ice packs and taking extra fluids after two to three overs in the middle.
Jadeja claimed all three wickets to fall after lunch, breaking the crucial partnership between Young and Mitchell, who raised 89 runs for the fourth wicket as the visitors struggled to cope both with the hot and humid conditions and the Indian bowlers, especially the spinners who extracted good turn from the pitch.
He ended the fourth wicket partnership when he extracted ample turn with the delivery that landed full just outside the off-stump and took the edge into the hands of Rohit Sharma at first slip.
Three balls later, the left-arm spinner had another wicket when he made one turn across Tom Blundell’s bat from the middle stumps and clipped the off. His next wicket came in the form of Glenn Phillips with a quicker one that slid with the arm and went past the bat to hit the stumps, completing his first five-wicket haul of this series.
Running out of partners, Mitchell, who had his heart in his mouth as a top-edge on a sweep evaded the fielder at the boundary and an inside edge went just wide of Kohli at backward short leg, chanced his arms, hitting three sixes in three overs off Sundar.
Sundar had the last laugh as he sent back Mitchell suffered a brain fade and opened the face of the bat to a flattish delivery and Rohit Sharma picked his second catch of the day, Mitchell scored 82 off 129 balls, hitting three fours and an equal number of sixes as he bravely hung around at the crease in very tough conditions.
Brief scores:
Sundar had the last laugh as he sent back Mitchell suffered a brain fade and opened the face of the bat to a flattish delivery and Rohit Sharma picked his second catch of the day, Mitchell scored 82 off 129 balls, hitting three fours and an equal number of sixes as he bravely hung around at the crease in very tough conditions.
Article Source: IANS