New Zealand have their nose ahead on Day 1

New Zealand were bowled out for 235 on Day 1 of the third Test against India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday after winning the toss and electing to bat first. In reply, India managed to score 86 runs but in the process lost four wickets. Despite being a dead rubber from the bilateral series perspective, the day’s play garnered good crowd of 18,000+, which stood rock solid behind the Indian team. However, it is important to note that this match is significant as far as qualification for the World Test Championship final is concerned.

India drew first blood as speedster Akash Deep dismissed opener Devon Conway (4) LBW in the fourth over of the innings. However, the visitors came back strong as captain Tom Latham and Will Young put their heads down to stitch a 44-run partnership for the second wicket. This stand was broken by Washington Sundar in the 16^th over as he went through the defence of Latham (28) to clean him up. The Tamil Nadu tweaker struck again in the 20^th over as he dismissed another southpaw in Rachin Ravindra (5), who was also the leading run scorer in this Test series so far, in similar fashion as Latham. No more damage was done as New Zealand walked into lunch with 92 runs for the loss of three wickets in 27 overs.

The duo of Young and Daryl Mitchell picked up from where they had left in the first session as they piled on another 67 runs before their partnership of 87 runs was broken by Ravindra Jadeja in the 45^th over. Trying to defend on his front foot, the ball took the outside edge of Young (71), which went straight into the hands of captain Rohit Sharma standing in the first slip. In the same over, Jadeja struck again as he cleaned up Tom Blundell (0). Not much later, Jadeja picked up his third wicket as he deceived Glenn Phillips (17) with a straighter one that disturbed the timber. While Mitchell, scoring his 12^th Test half-century, held the fort in the post lunch session for New Zealand, which saw another 100 runs being added, Jadeja bowled incisive spell snapping three scalps.

Jadeja continued to wreak havoc with the ball as he picked another two wickets in one over to complete his 14^th fifer in Test cricket. Ish Sodhi (7) and Matt Henry (0) were his victims in the 61^st over as they had no answers to the questions posed by the left arm spinner. The onus was then on Mitchell to guide his team to a competitive score. However, after top-scoring with a defiant 82, Mitchell perished. Sundar, who was at the receiving end of three sixes from Mitchell had the last laugh as he got the better of the Kiwi in the 66^th over. Sundar got rid of Ajaz Patel (7) too in the same over to bowl out New Zealand for 235 in 65.4 overs.

In reply, India scored 86 runs in 19 overs for the loss of four wickets. The opening pair in local boys Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal put together 25 runs before Sharma (18) was sent packing by Matt Henry. Later, Shubman Gill and Jaiswal combined forces to pile up 53 runs for the second wicket. However, Jaiswal’s 52-ball stay in which he scored 30 came to an end as Ajaz Patel got the breakthrough. The very next ball India’s night watchman Mohammad Siraj (0) was sent back by Patel leaving India in all sorts of trouble towards the fag end of the day’s play. To add to the miseries, Virat Kohli (4) was run out while trying to scamper through for a single with the stroke.

At the end of day’s play, India were in a spot of bother as they trail by 149 runs.