Kanpur, Nov 27 (UNI) Umesh Yadav got big fish Kane Williamson immediately after India opted for the second new ball as New Zealand reached 197 for 2 at lunch on Day 3 of the first Test at Green Park Stadium here on Saturday.
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 also troubled, especially the non-strikers 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 also was summoned by umpire Nitin . For a few minutes there was a heated discussion.
Resuming at 129 for no loss, the Kiwi openers continued to frustrate 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 Srikar 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.
When Latham walks into the middle post lunch, he has the job cut on hands to build another partnership to get past the deficit of 148 as he was batting at 82, looking for his 12th Test hundred.
UNI BDN ING