MATCH REPORT
Follow UsIt was a roller-coaster day in Kanpur, but eventually it was the hosts that came out on top as India set a stiff target of 284 for the Kiwis before ending the day on a high by taking the wicket of Will Young. Kane Williamson’s side have a huge mountain to climb on the final day.
New Zealand rip through India to storm back into the contest
With India 63 ahead having lost just a solitary wicket, New Zealand needed a huge showing with the ball in the first session to stay in the game. That looked unlikely after the visitors start with the ball, leaking 15 runs off the first 3 overs, but after a dull first 30 minutes, a stunning turnaround saw the Black Caps reduce India to their knees.
It all started with the wicket of Pujara. Jamieson was wayward in the first half an hour, but he got one to bounce and take the glove of Pujara. The on-field umpire did not give the batter out, but DRS ensured that the Kiwis got their first breakthrough of the morning.
From here, it was all carnage.
Rahane’s dreadful form continued as he was trapped plumb in front by Ajaz Patel by 4, and then came the stunning Tim Southee spell that turned the day on its head. Southee first nicked-off Mayank Agarwal through an outswinger, and then trapped Jadeja in front from around the wicket through a big booming inswinger. In no time India were reduced to 51/5, just 100 ahead of the Kiwis.
An Adelaide-esque collapse, however, was stopped by a very useful stand from Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin. The duo kept themselves busy from ball one, and put together 33 runs to go to lunch unbeaten.
Still, after enduring a forgettable day on Saturday, the first session on Sunday belonged to the Black Caps.
Iyer, Ashwin and Saha stretch India’s lead over 200
By lunch, the Ashwin-Iyer partnership had already become and established one, and post-lunch the duo started to frustrate the Kiwis. Both batters found the odd boundary on a regular basis, and helped stretch the lead over 150. Things were looking ominous for New Zealand, for whom the game was slipping slowly.
This prompted Williamson to bring Jamieson back into the attack, and the tall right-armer struck on his very second ball to dismiss Ashwin. It was an unfortunate dismissal, for the ball ricocheted onto the stumps after hitting Ashwin’s pad, but it gave a timely boost to the Kiwis.
In walked an injured Wriddhiman Saha, and much to New Zealand’s dismay, it was his stand with Iyer that took the hosts to a very respectable position. Saha and Iyer milked runs off the New Zealand spinners, and in no time the lead got stretched beyond 200.
Iyer brought up his second fifty of the match, and slowly, India batted themselves toward safety. Iyer perished on the stroke of tea, but by then the lead was already 216.
India end the day on a high after effectively batting New Zealand out of the game
New Zealand, despite taking the wicket of Iyer just before tea, were not able to take any more wickets in the final session, but despite that, India went at a pretty moderate rate. The 20 overs that were bowled post-tea yielded just 67 runs, and Axar (28*) and Saha (61*) were content with just getting to a ‘safe’ total. Eventually they did that as India declared on 234/7, with the lead 283.
Four overs was all the hosts were able to bowl before bad light crept in, but that was enough for Ashwin, who trapped Will Young LBW. It was a controversial moment, for the umpires told Young he had run out of time after he tried reviewing it post the allowed duration. Replays showed that the ball was missing leg-stump by a country mile.
The Kiwis sent in nightwatchman Will Somerville, who went through the stumps unscathed, and the Black Caps will walk out on the final day needing to score 280 more runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
A herculean task.