PUNE: At 197/3 after 59 overs, the Kiwis would have been happy with the way things were unfolding after winning the toss. The visitors, up 1-0 in the series, had not allowed pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep any breakthrough and it appeared both the Tamil Nadu offspinners — Washington Sundar and R Ashwin — were being kept under reasonable control.
Daryl Mitchell’s unconvincing stay had begun to give India some heartburn. And the century-maker in the first Test, Rachin Ravindra (65 off 105b, 5x4s, 1x6), was batting beautifully, with soft hands and assured footwork. He was not wasting too many scoring opportunities.
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But Washington, not in the original plan of the selectors, had other plans. He put on a show on how to bowl on a responsive pitch — don’t try hard to turn the ball, allow the pitch to do the damage by sticking to the correct principles of bowling. After all, a marginal turn can yield more wickets than a big turn. In the process, the 25-year-old ended with figures of 7/59, which included five batters being out bowled. Before Washington started his magic, Ashwin was 3-48. He ended with 3-63. The two hardly bowled in tandem.
All the wickets that India took came from the pavilion end and only one catch was taken in the outfield, as two were out LBW and two caught behind the wicket.
India bowled out New Zealand for 259 in the 80th over and then made 16-1 in 11 overs at stumps, losing Rohit Sharma for a nine-ball duck to Tim Southee.
India got the visitors’ last seven wickets in about 20 overs, conceding 62 runs. It was a rare instance of two bowlers from one state (Tamil Nadu) and one craft (off-break) taking all 10 wickets for India in a Test innings.
At the Gahunje stadium, the ball nicked the off stumps thrice. First, Washington angled the ball in and moved it away from lefthanded Rachin’s bat. Though the batter tried to cover the off-stump with his bat, the red cherry still found a way to clip the stumps. Southee was castled when Washington bowled wide of the crease around the wicket — the ball pitched between leg and middle and skidded to kiss the off stump.
This beautiful sight was repeated during the last half an hour of play, though India were at the receiving end this time around. Southee’s ball cut and moved away and left captain Rohit Sharma helpless in overcast and floodlit conditions as his off stump was disturbed.
After removing Rachin with an almost unplayable delivery, Washington had Tom Blundell with a classical off-spinner that went between the bat and pad. Then he trapped Daryl Mitchell LBW with a beautiful seam position as aerodynamics and turn came into play.
In between, Glenn Phillips played into India’s hands by lofting Washington to deep mid-off without any force or connection when Ashwin was posted there exactly for that type of shot.
India didn’t taste success for more than seven overs in the morning and got the first success in the first over of spin. Ashwin’s smart thinking of allowing Devon Conway a single to the long-on fielder placed only for that ball worked well. Tom Latham, a southpaw, was trapped LBW the next ball.
Ashwin also removed Conway (76 off 141, 11x4s) who had started to give India a headache with his unconventional batting style. The batter tried to work through the turner when he could have played forward, and nicked it to Pant for a sharp catch against the run of play.
Then, Sarfaraz Khan, stationed at short-leg, insisted on a review which found the ball brushing Will Young’s bat. Going by the assessment of coach Luke Ronchi, the pitch and helplessness of finding a seemingly unplayable ball has already started to play on the visitors’ minds.
Now, India will hope to bat only once in this match. They have to tackle the pace of Southee and Williams O’Rourke. The Kiwis have drafted in left-arm spinner Mitchell Santer (scored 33 important runs) in place of Matt Henry.
