India’s spinners scalped eight wickets out of nine in New Zealand’s second innings to restrict the visitors to 171/9 and give themselves a fighting chance of registering a crucial win in the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday.
Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/52 while Ashwin chipped in with three wickets and Washington Sundar one as spin dominated proceedings on the second day of the Test as NZ reached 171/9 in 43.3 overs at stumps with a lead of 143 runs.
Earlier in the day, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill were absolutely on fire in the first 45 minutes or so in the morning as they sent the New Zealand bowlers on a leather hunt.
#INDvNZ #IDFCFirstBankTestTrophy #JioCinemaSports #ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/SujiHXhlOw
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 2, 2024
Pant, especially, was in a marauding mood smashing seven fours and two sixes while going at a strike rate of 138.88. This was the Pant of the yore tearing apart bowling attacks in his own inimitable style with utter disdain for the conditions or the reputation of the bowler.
Ish Sodhi breaks the promising partnership by dismissing Rishabh Pant
The Indian wicket-keeper batsman was playing to his strengths as he knows best as India consolidated their position within an hour of play reaching 162/4 in 32 overs.
Gill batting on 57 off 74 balls with four boundaries and a six while Pant was on 50 off 43 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Pant dropped on 53 by Matt Henry with India on 167/4 off the bowling of Glenn Phillips as the southpaw lived a charmed life in the middle.
The left-hander was out trapped leg before to Ish Sodhi on 60 off 59 balls in 90 minutes with eight fours and two sixes.
The 96-run fifth-wicket partnership between Pant and Gill had raised India’s hopes of going past New Zealand’s total of 235 and perhaps take a sizeable lead on a track that was getting tricky to bat on.
With the dismissal of Pant, Ravindra Jadeja joined Gill as the duo looked to rebuild with another valuable partnership. Lunch was taken with India at 195/5 in 43 overs with Gill on 70 and Jadeja on 10.
India would have been happy heading to lunch adding 109 runs to their overnight score of 86/4 losing just the one wicket of Pant.
