India's spinners turned on the screw day and the batsmen followed it up as India ended day three of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur in command with a lead of 215 and 9 wickets to spare.
Starting the day on 152/1, New Zealand got off to the worst possible start to the day as they first lost Tom Latham and then Kane Williamson in quick succession. In between, the player with the most Test runs in this side was also dismissed for a duck.
Although they did well to get to lunch having lost just one further wicket, their chances of taking a lead had reduced dramatically. After Ravichandran Ashwin had removed Mitchell Santner, it was the Ravindra Jadeja show as the left-arm spinner picked up three wickets in five balls to reduce to 258/9.
Ashwin picked up the last wicket and finished with a four-wicket haul while Jadeja had a five-for as India took a 56-run lead. In response, KL Rahul initiated a positive response but fell on the stroke of tea with India on 52/1.
After tea, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara started in a hurry and got India’s lead over 150 before settling down and eventually ending the day on 159/1 with both players scoring their fifties.
Here are some interesting numbers from the day’s play:
1 – The number of runs scored by Ross Taylor in his last three Test innings. He has been dismissed for a duck twice and scored a single in the other. In his first three Test innings this year, he scored 364 runs without being dismissed.
1 – The first time since 2006 that an Indian pair has put on two century partnerships in a Test. The last pair to do so was Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer against England at Nagpur in 2006.
1 – Only once have New Zealand successfully chased a total in excess of 200 in the fourth innings. That was against Bangladesh at Chiitagong in 2008 when they chased 317.
2 – This is the third time that Vijay has managed 50+ scores in both innings of a Test and the second time that Murali Vijay has scored a fifty in both innings of a Test. He scored 53 and 99 against Australia at Adelaide in 2014 while he also managed a hundred and a fifty against England in Nottingham earlier that year.
3 – The number of five-wicket hauls taken by Ravindra Jadeja in a team’s first innings of a Test. He only has two such hauls in the second innings.
3 – The century partnership for the second wicket equalled an all-time Test record as this was the third century partnership for the second wicket in this Test. Only twice before has this feat been achieved and both games involved Australia, once was in 1953 versus England and the other in 1972 against Pakistan.
5 – This was Ravindra Jadeja’s fifth five-wicket haul in Tests and his fourth in India. However, his best bowling figures still are his 6-for against South Africa at Durban in 2013.
6 – This was only the third time that there was six LBWs in an innings in a Test in India. India’s game against Sri Lanka at Chandigarh in 1990 was the first time this happened and four years later against WI in Mohali was the next.
7 – New Zealand lost their last five wickets for just seven runs, which is the second-lowest tally for which they have lost their last five wickets. They had lost 5 wickets for five runs against Sri Lanka in Colomo (PSS).
15.60 – Ravindra Jadeja’s average in Tests in Asia is the best for any bowler who has taken at least 50 wickets. Jadeja has 55 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 15.60 and in second place is Richie Benaud with an average of 19.32. Even his teammate, Ashwin averages 20.54 with 156 wickets in 24 Tests.
48 – Murali Vijay and KL Rahul registered their maiden 50-wicket partnership as a pair in Tests. Their 52-run partnership beat their previous-best of 48 in five previous innings.
86.20 – Kane Williamson’s Test average as New Zealand skipper is 86.20. Ever since he was handed the captaincy, he has scored 431 runs in five Tests with a century and four fifties.
122.3 – Ross Taylor’s average in Tests in 2016 is a staggering 122.3 from five Tests. He has scored 367 runs including two hundreds and a fifty, all of which came against Zimbabwe earlier in the year.
2008 – The last time India’s top three and scored 30 or more in both innings of a Test was against Australia at Mohali in 2008. This was just the fifth time this feat has been achieved by India.
41 28 30. 41.41
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