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NZ pull back India with quick wickets after being bundled for 235

India threw away the advantage that Ravindra Jadeja provided with his 14th Test five-wicket haul by bowling New Zealand out for 235, with the home side losing three wickets in the last two overs of the opening day to end at 86 for 4, at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

NZ pull back India with quick wickets after being bundled for 235

Photo: IANS

India threw away the advantage that Ravindra Jadeja provided with his 14th Test five-wicket haul by bowling New Zealand out for 235, with the home side losing three wickets in the last two overs of the opening day to end at 86 for 4, at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

With India playing for pride and avoid their first-ever whitewash at home and also vital World Test Championship points, Ravindra Jadeja (5/65) and Washington Sundar (4/81) put the home side on the right paddle before the quick fall of wickets towards the fag end of the day, left the day balanced.

India were cruising towards stumps at 78/1 with Yashasvi Jaiswal (30) and Shubman Gill (31 not out) dominating the proceedings before being undone off an audacious reverse sweep from Jaiswal off Ajaz Patel. Jaiswal’s wicket opened the floodgates for the tourists over the next 10 minutes with nightwatchman Mohammed Siraj departing first ball after burning a review.

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Virat Kohli then perished in an attempt to steal a risky single with a drive to mid-on, only for Matt Henry to inflict further damage with a direct hit at the bowler’s end. The three wickets broke the momentum that India had in the day even after losing skipper Rohit Sharma for a run-a-ball 18.

Earlier in the day, Jadeja braved excessive heat and humid conditions to bowl 22 unchanged overs and run through New Zealand’s middle and lower order. The left-arm spinner was complemented well by off-spinner Washington Sundar, who turned on the heat in the morning session after the Kiwis opted to bat after winning the toss. Ravichandran Ashwin had an off day and returned wicketless as he struggled to create an impact.

The visitors lost their last seven wickets for just 76 runs as Jadeja and Sundar ran through the batting line-up. The left-arm spinner was at his lethal best as he went past Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to break into the top-five wicket-takers for India in Tests.

Daryl Mitchell (82) and Will Young (71) architected New Zealand’s first innings total of 235, with a partnership of 87 runs. The partnership helped the tourists rebuild the ship after Sundar struck twice in quick succession with the wickets of Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra. Latham scored 28 off 44 before being bowled by Sundar. In the next couple of overs, the tweaker hit the off stump of Ravindra with a near identical delivery to leave New Zealand delicately poised at 72 for 3.

However, Mitchell and Young survived the nervous half an hour before the lunch break as both their edges were threatened regularly. Post lunch, though, the pitch settled down for an hour and a bit, but with the Mercury rising to 37 degrees, the conditions were demanding for the ones on the field.

Young and Mitchell, though, looked at ease, and employed the sweeps and reverse-sweeps to good effect, before Young danced down the wicket to bring up his first fifty of the series.

With Jadeja going on from one end consistently, he finally managed to extract a turn off even at high pace — something which triggered the New Zealand collapse from a comfortable 159 for 3 to 235 all out. After ending Young’s resistance by inducing an edge to the slips, Jadeja struck three balls later to pack off Tom Blundell for a duck.

The left-arm tweaker then took out Glenn Phillips with one that didn’t turn to go past Zaheer and Ishant into the top-five wicket-takers for India. Post tea, Jadeja struck again with the wickets of Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry in the same over.

With Mitchell around, New Zealand had some hopes with the right-hander clobbering three sixes off Sundar to bring up some quick runs, before perishing off the same bowler to leave the tourists reeling at 228/9. Sundar completed the formalities by removing Patel.

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