Eight deliveries. That’s all it took for India to fritter away an advantage for which they had to work extremely hard in extenuating circumstances at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
On a warm, humid opening day of the final Test, Ravindra Jadeja’s 14th five-wicket haul helped the hosts neutralise the loss of the toss. The left-arm spinner and offie Washington Sundar combined for nine wickets as India also overcame the loss through illness of Jasprit Bumrah to bowl New Zealand out for 235, 42 minutes after tea.
Rohit departs early
Rohit Sharma looked a million dollars before perishing to Matt Henry, bailing out of a pull and falling to a second-slip catch, but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill carefully nudged India ahead with an engaging alliance of 53.
New Zealand players celebrate the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal yesterday
Then, the wheels came apart spectacularly. Less than 15 minutes before close of play, Jaiswal attempted a reverse-sweep to a straight ball from Ajaz Patel and lost his leg-stump. Out walked Mohammed Siraj, of all people, as nightwatchman, and was adjudged leg before the first ball, playing down the wrong line to a turning delivery from the left-arm spinner and being struck plumb in front, on the back pad. To make matters worse, Siraj burned a review. 2 for 0 in two balls.
But wait. The drama was far from over. Virat Kohli swatted a full toss from Rachin Ravindra through mid-wicket for four, then for some reason that even he will find hard to explain, attempted a needlessly risky single next ball, pushing to mid-on and setting off. Henry swooped on the ball and effected a direct hit at the non-striker’s end with the batter well short of his ground. As brain-fade moments go, this will be hard to top.
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From 78-1, India stuttered to 86-4, still 149 behind, when the draw of stumps prevented further instances of addled decision-making. On a track already assisting the spinners, India need a big first-innings tally if they are to salvage something from a series that has gone pear-shaped from the time Rohit won the toss in Bangalore. That will call for greater application and a more nuanced approach than they have showcased over the last fortnight.
Injured Santner unavailable
New Zealand were dealt a blow of sorts with Pune hero Mitchell Santner ruled out with a side strain. They didn’t have things their way, forced to dig deep into physical reserves and mental resilience in tough conditions. Will Young, the No. 3, and Daryl Mitchell, who made a hundred here in the World Cup semi-final against India last November, dug in after three early Indian strikes, putting on 82 excellent runs for the fourth wicket.
Jadeja, the last of the five Indian bowlers who only came on a quarter of an hour before lunch, snapped the alliance by having Young caught at slip, after which he got on a roll. His control was admirable and the ability to take the humidity out of the equation commendable as he bowled 22 unchanged overs, finishing with 5-65. He now has a job to do with the bat as well, thanks to that eight-ball spell of madness.
Brief scores
NZ 235 all out (D Mitchell 82, W Young 71; R Jadeja 5-65, W Sundar 4-81) v India 86-4 (S Gill 31*, Y Jaiswal 30; A Patel 2-33)
