New Zealand collapse for 262 to concede lead to India

New Zealand’s Tom Latham bats during the second day of the first test against India at Green Park stadium in Kanpur, India, Friday, Sept. 23. And, Murali Vijay (64*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (50*) sensibly led India’s batting charge to end third day’s play at 159/1.

New Zealand had started the day at a strong 152 for one but lost four wickets in the morning session.

After taking a 56-run first innings lead, India were further driven by the 107-run unbeaten partnership between Pujara and Vijay in a match that was fairly partial to the spinners.

In doing so, the duo played some attractive shots, particularly Williamson, as he struck seven boundaries in his 115-ball stay.

It was this pair of Pujara and Vijay that had troubled the visitors with their resolute half-centuries in the first innings as well.

Leg-break bowler Ish Sodhi had Rahul caught in first slip at the fag end of extended second session.

With the rain continuing to lash the ground more than an hour after the tea interval, the match officials eventually chose to call it a day.Earlier, with the pitch beginning to show signs of wear and tear, the Indian bowlers got a fair amount of turn and movement off the wicket. Overall also, Ashwin kept asking questions like that throughout the first innings. After lunch, even more damagingly, they lost their last five in the space of 29 balls, for the addition of only seven runs.

New Zealand faltered after the departure of overnight batsmen Kane Williamson and Tom Latham, losing three quick wickets at the start of play.

At 95th over Jadeja turned the match with 3 wickets in a maiden over and Ashwin took last wicket in the next over to finish off First Innings of New Zealand batting at 262 in 92.5 overs.

Luke Ronchi (38) helped stop the rot when he put on 49 with Santner but fell to a debatable leg before decision after Jadeja trapped him with a dipping delivery which may have been missing the off-stump. “He was their main batsman and the one who could have played for a long time”. Jadeja dismissed Mark Craig and Sodhi off successive deliveries and a ball later when he dismissed Trent Boult. Latham, expecting the ball to turn away, was bringing down his bat to block. The Kiwis had added only seven runs to their overnight total at that time.

Latham and Williamson looked quite at ease against the spinners who did manage a few lbw appeals but couldn’t separate them.

The Kiwis had hardly settled when Jadeja, who was getting good turn and bounce, sent back Taylor, who also tried to defend on the front foot but was caught in line. By an wonderful delivery Ashwin made is Williamson (75) bowled and score was 170-4. When asked if it was tough to maintain the same rhythm, Jadeja stated that they did not have too much of a problem to settle down into a good rhythm on the third day. New Zealand now trail the hosts by 166 runs with nine wickets remaining. We got four wickets in the morning session and that was game-changing.