Kanpur, Nov 27 (UNI) Axar Patel struck thrice before Ravindra Jadeja took his first wicket of the innings as India bounced back by restricting New Zealand to 242 for 6 at Tea on Day 3 of the first Test match at Green Park Stadium here on Saturday.
New Zealand batsmen looked all at sea facing Indian spinners as Ross Taylor (11) and Henry Nicholls (2) were dismissed cheaply before Tom Latham's 95 runs knock came to an end after substitute wicketkeeper KS Bharat executed a brilliant stumping.
Jadeja, then, dismissed Rachin Ravindra with a sharp turner as New Zealand lost their sixth wicket.
Soon the Kiwis found themselves in the hole despite being in a strong position with the scorecard reading at 214 for two. The Indian bowlers looked always in the game as they began to exploit the pitch that was keeping low and plugged the run flow coming from the blades of Kiwi batsmen.
A pleasing session for India as they picked up the last five wickets by giving away 52 runs. New Zealand were placed pretty well at 197 for one, but Umesh Yadav just before Lunch got rid of captain Kane Williamson and then the parade started in the post-lunch session with spinners causing havoc.
From 241 for 6, the Black Caps went into a shell with Tom Blundell and Kyle Jamieson kept blocking.
In the morning session, Umesh got big fish Kane Williamson immediately after India opted for the second new ball.
Overnight unbeaten New Zealand openers made a shaky start as the wicket started to behave quite differently from the first two days. The odd balls kept low and Ravichandran Ashwin exploited the conditions to perfection. He eventually dismissed Will Young (89) with a low delivery, inducing edge off the right-hander.
The spinner continued to trouble Kiwi batsmen until Umesh trapped Williamson plumb at the stroke of lunch after he struggled to make 18 off 64 balls.
Ashwin troubled the non-strikers as well, when he ran across in his follow-through from round the wicket and came across in line of them, obstructing them to steal singles. Captain Ajinkya Rahane was summoned by umpire Nitin Menon. For a few minutes there was a heated discussion.
Earlier resuming at 129 for no loss, the Kiwi openers frustrated India, but they had close shaves too. Latham was lucky to watch the nick off his blade fall short off the slip fielder Ashwin in the 63rd over.
Ashwin broke the first wicket stand of 151 by foxing Young with clever use of angles.
The opener edged one behind to makeshift wicket-keeper KS Bharat, who donned the gloves in place of regular Wriddhiman Saha who did not take the field due to neck pain. The ball kept low but Bharat showcased his wicket keeping skills by bucketing the catch.
Young deserved a hundred as he was brave enough to skip down the deck and use the sweep to keep the scorecard ticking over even as the Indian relentless spinners came at him. He had smacked 15 fours in his career-best knock.
Indians missed a trick as Ashwin got one turn away from Latham and rapped him on the pads, but captain Ajinkya Rahane did not opt for the review. The HawkEye clearly showed the ball crashing into the stumps.
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