KANPUR: Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined forces to hurt New Zealand's reply as the visitors took lunch at 238 for five on the third day of the first Test in Kanpur on Saturday.
New Zealand, who started the day on 152 for one in response to India's 318, faltered after the departure of overnight batsmen Kane Williamson and Tom Latham.
Mitchell Santner on 28 and BJ Watling on 3 were battling on at the break, with the visitors still trailing by 80 runs in the first innings.
Ashwin and Jadeja claimed two wickets apiece to bring alive the home crowd at Kanpur's Green Park.
Off-spinner Ashwin struck in the fifth over of the day to get Latham trapped lbw for 58 and break the 124-run partnership for the second wicket.
The left-handed Latham, who added just two runs to his overnight score, was done in by a drifting ball bowled by Ashwin from around the wicket.
In the very next over Jadeja's left-arm spin got new man Ross Taylor trudging back to the pavilion for nought after being given lbw.
But it was the wicket of Williamson, who scored 75, that turned the tables for the hosts as Ashwin got the dangerman bowled off a beautiful delivery that spun a lot.
Luke Ronchi steadied the innings for a while with his composed 38 but Jadeja got the batsman lbw to break the 49-run fifth-wicket partnership before lunch.
Comments
Comments are closed.