A place where you need to follow for what happening in world cup
mobile view

Test Cricket: New Zealand finished on top after the first day of the final Test in Mumbai

0 150

India lost three wickets for eight runs towards the close of play as New Zealand finished on top after the first day of the final Test in Mumbai. India were cruising towards stumps at 78/1 with Yashasvi Jaiswal (30) and Shubman Gill (31*) in full control. However, an audacious reverse sweep from the former gifted Ajaz Patel his first wicket of the game and it opened up the floodgates for the tourists over the next ten minutes. Nightwatchman Mohammed Siraj failed at his task as he got trapped LBW by Ajaz. To make it worse, Siraj also burned a review before walking off the field.

More misery before stumps was in store for the home side as Virat Kohli went for a risky single with a drive to mid-on, only for Matt Henry to fire a direct hit at the bowler’s end. Even a dive caught Kohli well short, showing how big the error in judgement was from India’s premier batter. It capped an excellent day for New Zealand who got to a very middling total after opting to bat. The Wankhede surface was its usual self with some bounce and subtle movement in the morning before starting to assist the spinners considerably.

Daryl Mitchell (82) and Will Young (71) were the major contributors for the Black Caps with both batters negotiating the bowling without much fuss. Their 87-run stand was pivotal, given that it came at a time when Washington Sundar struck twice in no time with the wickets of Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra. If Sundar (4-81) was India’s standout bowler in the morning session, it was Ravindra Jadeja (5-65) who excelled from then on even as the former continued to be efficient. Ravichandran Ashwin had an off day and returned wicketless as he struggled to create an impact.

Mitchell and Young were proactive with their methods, using their feet and depth of the crease to good effect. They also swept well and it took some brilliant bowling from Jadeja to get rid of Young while Mitchell fell to a soft dismissal. With the pitch offering enough to the spinners, New Zealand weren’t able to get away with the bat and losing wickets in clumps hurt them. The visitors lost their last seven wickets for just 76 runs as Jadeja and Sundar sliced through the batting line-up. The left-arm spinner was at his menacing best as he went past Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to break into the top-five wicket-takers for India in Tests.

With no Mitchell Santner to deal with, India’s batters appeared far more relaxed against spin. Rohit Sharma endured another failure as he fell to Matt Henry with the new ball but Jaiswal and Gill had things under control with a well-paced partnership. If the duo had managed to stay on together until stumps, it would have easily been India’s day. However, Jaiswal’s rush of blood triggered a mini collapse that has put New Zealand on top at the moment. Batting is only going to get harder and chasing in the fourth innings will be a gargantuan task. So, India need a strong first innings score and it is set up for a riveting second day.

Brief scores: New Zealand 235 (Daryl Mitchell 82, Will Young 71; Ravindra Jadeja 5-65, Washington Sundar 4-81) lead India 86/4 (Shubman Gill 31*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 30; Ajaz Patel 2-33) by 149 runs

 

 

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.