Kanpur: Spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin (6/132) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/58) were well-supported by Mohammed Shami (2/18) as India notched up a mammoth 197-run win over New Zealand in their historic 500th Test here Monday at the Green Park. The visitors were bowled out for 236 in their second essay which gave India a 1-0 lead in the four- match series.
Beginning the day at a precarious 93 for four, overnight New Zealand batsmen Luke Ronchi (80, 120b, 9×4, 1×6) and Mitchell Santner (71, 179b, 7×4, 1×6) frustrated the Indian bowlers for about 20 overs by adding 65 runs in the morning session but that only delayed the inevitable. The two put on 102 runs for the fifth wicket, before Jadeja ended the resistance.
However, the moment Ronchi holed out to point to Ashwin trying an extravagant sweep of Jadeja, the rest of the batters fell like a pack of cards.
Ashwin then completed his fifth six-wicket haul by adding the scalps of Santner, Ish Sodhi (17) and Neil Wagner (0) to his three wickets grabbed Sunday.
Then Shami, who got some reverse swing going to dismiss BJ Watling and Mark Craig and it was all over for New Zealand.
The visitors, chasing a mammoth 434-run target, had a daunting task at hand to bat out three full sessions on the fifth day, which has always been a big challenge for tourists in India. With this win, India have taken their unbeaten tally on home soil to 11 matches. New Zealand, on the other hand, have remained without a win on the Indian soil since 1998.
After Ronchi’s departure, Santner remained solid at one end and defied the Indian bowlers for the next 10 overs with Watling (18). The partnership was broken when Shami trapped the wicket-keeper batsman plumb in front with one that nipped back. In his next over, Shami breached the defence of Craig with a peach of a delivery that swung in late to shatter the stumps.
Next to go was Santner, who could only offer a defensive prod to a well-flighted Ashwin delivery as the ball jumped on him and the resultant inside edge was picked up by Rohit Sharma at silly points. Then Ashwin quickly disposed off Sodhi and Wagner to complete the rout.
Both the teams will travel to Kolkata now with the second Test starting there, Friday.
With this win, India have also inched closer to the No.1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. Virat Kohli’s men need to win this series to go on top in the list.
Scoreboard
India Ist innings: 318
New Zealand Ist innings: 262
India 2nd innings: 377/5 decl
New Zealand 2nd innings (overnight 93/4)
Luke Ronchi c Ashwin b Jadeja 80, Mitchell Santner c Rohit b Ashwin 71, BJ Watling lbw b Shami 18, Mark Craig b Shami 1, Ish Sodhi b Ashwin 17, Trent Boult n o 2, Neil Wagner lbw b Ashwin 0,
Extras: (lb-2, nb-1) 3
Total: (all out) 236.
Fall: 1-2 (Guptill), 2-3 (Latham), 3-43 (Williamson), 4-56 (Taylor), 5-158 (Ronchi), 6-194 (Watling), 7-196 (Craig), 8-223 (Santner), 9-236 (Sodhi), 10-236 (Neil Wagner).
Bowling: Mohammed Shami 8-2-18-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 35.3-5-132-6, Ravindra Jadeja 34-17-58-1, Umesh Yadav 8-1-23-0, Murali Vijay
2-0-3-0.
Kolhi praises Ashwin efforts
Effusive in his praise for Ravinchandran Ashwin, Indian captain Virat Kohli said here Monday that the off-spinner is a ‘priceless’ cricketer to have in the team having contributed with both bat and ball in the victory against New Zealand.
“He’s been outstanding for the Indian team. If you see all the impact players in the world at present, he comes in the top three-four easily. Bowlers are the one I feel that win you Test matches and Ashwin is one of the topmost among them,” Kolhi told reporters after the game.
“There’s no doubt that he has been bowling wonderfully well for the last couple of years. He is a smart and intelligent cricketer and it shows off in his batting also. He has also contributed handsomely with the bat,” added the Indian captain.
The captain also praised both Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for contributing to the team cause with their ideas. “There are occasions when nothing is working for us and both will come up and say, ‘I have this plan, let’s work on it’. And at times their plans do bring in success,” informed Kohli. “As a captain it always gives you more assurance that both these guys obviously know what they are doing.”
The Indian captain was also pleased at the way Cheteshwar Pujara batted in on both innings of the Test. “Look no doubt about his ability to soak up pressure,” stated Kohli. “But we talked to him and explained to him that at times the team will need quick runs. He has worked very hard on his game and the results are there for everyone to see in this Test.
‘Cowardly act’
Virat Kohli offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the Uri terrorist attack and said that such cowardly acts are ‘disturbing’ and ‘hurts’ every citizen of the country. “When such incidents happen regularly, it feels definitely bad. I just think of the families of the soldiers who were martyred. Very disturbing and a cowardly act by whoever has done it,” Kohli said when asked to react on the recent terror strike on Indian soil. “I can react on this but can’t comment on a solution because I am not operating at that level. As an Indian it hurts, very much indeed.”
Press Trust of India
