New Zealand Leading by 235 and 171 for 9 (Young 51, Jadeja 4-52, Ashwin 3-63). India 263 (Gill 90, Pants 60, Azaz 5-103) 143 runs
These were the youngsters India, who lost Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli cheaply again, were looking for early on. Pant and Gill added 96 with five overs to stem the rot that had started on the first evening. Pant, in particular, was so critical that lead spinner Ajaz was not allowed to bowl at all. Overnight, Pant started as scheduled. Ajaz’s first ball of the day was so full that Pant pushed it straight off mid-off and moved it deeper for a boundary. Against the second ball, Pant came out and drilled it straight at deep mid-off, now moving on to a long-off ball. Gill joined him in Ajaz’s next over with an inside-out chip over extra cover.
Pant then played a lap shot for four to push short leg back square, and immediately gave the next two balls away which front short leg was able to catch. It was Pant’s aggressive mindset that forced New Zealand to choose between the two. Pant rubbed it with two sixes in Ajaz’s next two overs.
Gil didn’t want to be left behind. He tried to hit Phillips’ first ball of the day for a six but ended up hitting a long ball that gave him a reprieve from substitute fielder Mark Chapman. It changed his innings. He continued to keep his head down and only accept the boundaries offered. He was 45 off 57 when he was dropped and the remaining 45 came from 89 balls.
Matt Henry also dropped Pant, but this miss cost New Zealand just 7 runs as Pant was dropped lbw to a short ball from Ish Sodhi, who was bowled out with only 84 runs left in the bank. Phillips, the hapless bowler, was arguably the most consistent spinner of the three and played a key role as Ajaz found their groove with spells of 8.4-2-27-3 after lunch.
Ajaz found a good length and the pitch started behaving more and more strangely and the results followed. More than 10 overs were played without a boundary and brought the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja and Sarfaraz Khan, the latter for a duck at his home ground.
Both fell into forward defense without reaching the pitch of the ball. Gill decided he wasn’t going to be a sitting duck. He took over Philips and raised his intentions. But Ajaz eventually took the lead for another catch to Daryl Mitchell, who spun and slipped at good length.
India was still behind at 8th place. Washington have now taken the lead past 25 runs with R Ashwin scoring 14 runs in a 20-run stand and Akash Deep scoring all 16 runs in the final stand.
Washington gained greater confidence as he started bowling before Ashwin, but it was Akash Deep who got rid of another left-handed opener with his angle and seam movement around the wicket. India was left behind with Washington and Ashwin, who got a wicket each, and Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra in their front line fielding sixes.
When two right-handed batsmen, Young and Mitchell, came in, all eyes turned to Jadeja. Ashwin volunteered to bowl Jadeja at the end where Jadeja and Ajaz took their wickets. But Rohit wanted Ashwin to continue bowling. The partnership swelled and changed ends and Jadeja came to Mitchell’s rescue beyond the hands of Ashwin, who returned in mid-on to take a diving catch.
Tom Blundell didn’t survive for long but Phillips hit three sixes in one go, two of which came off Ashwin, who took a carom ball from his back pocket for the first time in a while and pushed the stumps. It was surprising that top-class Test batsmen did not opt for the carom ball. Even the accomplished and stable Young was out and hit a single.
Henry and Ajaz each hit a six, but Henry was bowled to an unplayable Jadeja delivery, which turned out to be his last ball of the day.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo.
