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India staged a tremendous return to suffocate the visitors to 249 for 6 at tea on the third day of the inaugural Test, left-arm spinner Axar Patel rocked the New Zealand middle-order with three fast wickets in the post-lunch session.
While Umesh Yadav (16-3-41) deserves credit for bringing India back into the game with Kane Williamson’s (18) wicket at the stroke of lunch, a resurgent Axar (24-4-46-3) snatched Ross Taylor (11), Henry Nicholls (2), and opener Tom Lathan (95 off 282 balls) all within 13 runs to completely disrupt their rhythm.
Ravindra Jadeja (26-8-48-1) then got in on the act, eliminating debutant Rachin Ravindra (13), allowing New Zealand to slip to 241 for 6 from a comfortable 197 for one.
India dominated the second session, taking four wickets for 52 runs.
Tom Blundell (10 batting off 73 balls) is attempting to stay alive, but that isn’t helping New Zealand’s case, as India would be pleased with a first-inning advantage of 50 to 60 runs, given the pitch isn’t suited to rolling over opponents.
Just before midday, the second new ball did the trick, as Umesh pitched one on line off-stump that cut back enough to find Williamson’s pads just as he was settling in after scoring 18 from 64 balls.
Earlier, Will Young (89 off 214 balls) narrowly missed out on a maiden Test century as Ravichandran Ashwin (37-9-76-1) provided the crucial breakthrough.
Axar finally had a traditional left-arm spinner’s delivery in the post-lunch session. A delivery with a little air and pitched on length drew Taylor forward before turning enough to take an outside edge into the gloves of substitute keeper K S Bharat.
Nicholls also attempted sweeping a much fuller delivery, but it turned in and he was caught leg first.
Axar gave it a tweak at a reasonable clip after realizing that on a slower track like this one, the pace off the pitch needed to be increased, and Latham was beaten all ends up. Before he could complete the stumping, Bharat fumbled.
Prior to that, Latham had virtually any lapses in concentration, hitting 47 of the New Zealand innings’ deliveries.
The pitch did not change its character on the third day, remaining low and sluggish, but the Indian spinners improved as the game continued by changing the velocity of their deliveries.
During the session, Ashwin was spotted having an intense debate with umpire Nitin Menon after deciding to come around the wicket against Williamson and treading on the risky area on his follow-through while also shielding the umpire’s vision.
Menon having understood the motive had a word with Ashwin and skipper Ajinkya Rahane and after some discussions, normalcy prevailed.
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