India vs New Zealand 1st Test, Day 3 LIVE: The match is being held in Kanpur.India vs New Zealand 1st Test, Day 3 Highlights: Axar Patel continued his golden run in favourable home conditions, grabbing another five-wicket haul to put India in the driver’s seat after New Zealand were bowled out for 296 despite an opening stand of 151 on the third day of the first Test in Kanpur on Saturday. The left-arm spinner had a couple of dream sessions when he finally found the ideal pace and turn off the surface to completely derail New Zealand’s steady first innings. His final figures read 34-6-62-5 as India got a crucial 49-run first innings lead, which increased to 63 at stumps.
India (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell(w), Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, Kyle Jamieson, William Somerville
India
345 (111.1) & 234/7 decNew Zealand
296 (142.3) & 165/9 (98.0)India drew with New Zealand
Axar Patel's 5-fer puts India in commanding position with a lead of 63 runs at Stumps on Day 3.
Kyle Jamieson's 50th Test wicket gave New Zealand a boost before the close but the hosts have the edge after three days at Kanpur. The day belonged to Axar who picked up yet another Test fifer, while Ashwin contributed with 3 scalps as the duo led India's fightback. With ??'s lead at 6??3??, the game is now perfectly set up for an enthralling final 2? days
A fiery start for New Zealand in the second innings! Shubman Gill departs for 1, bowled by Jamieson, who becomes the fastest New Zealand bowler to 50 Test wickets. Jamieson gets a wicket off his first ball as he gets through Shubman's defence with a jaffa.
Kyle Jamieson has taken his 50th Test wicket in just his ninth game - the fastest to 50 wickets of any Blackcaps player in Test history, eclipsing Shane Bond's record of 12 Tests.
Cheteshwar Pujara comes to the crease in place of Gill, brings up a boundary at the end of the over as IND: 6/1 (2 overs)
Mayank and Shubman Gill start the second innings for India in the first Test. Tim Southee opens the attack. IND: 2/0 (1 over)
Ravichandran Ashwin wraps up the innings, Axar Patel ends with 5-62 and India take a 49-run lead on first innings with New Zealand all-out at 296.
Ashwin gets rewarded for a splendid display of spin bowling as he finishes with three wickets, gets Somerville out bowled after the batter misses the slog sweep.
Ravichandrann Ashwin picks up his second wicket. Kyle Jamieson departs as he sends one high into the sky. Axar Patel settles underneath and takes a comfortable catch. Jamieson departs for 23. Ajaz Patel comes in place of Jamieson. NZ: 284/9 (139 overs)
With Axar's spin doing the trick, Rahane brings Ashwin back into the fold. But the batting pair of Jamieson (21*) and Somerville (1*) does well enough to deal with the two-pronged spin attack of India. The visitors are still trailing by 64 runs. NZ: 281/8 (135 overs)
Axar completes his fifer! Another delivery, another bowled! Southee walks back to the dressing room on 5. NZ: 270/8 (127.4 overs)
Axar continues to cause damage as he removes Blundell (13) from the middle with an excellent delivery! The batter tries to play off his back foot but the ball ends up sneaking below his blade to rattle the stumps. On comes Southee. NZ: 258/7 (123.4 overs)
After Jadeja's maiden over, Axar comes back in and puts pressure on Blundell (10*) and Jamieson (3*). NZ: 250/6 (120 overs)
After seven overs of simple blocking and digging deep, New Zealand find a respite with the umpires calling for the tea break. Blundell (10*) and Jamieson (2*) will resume the innings in the third session. The visitors trail by 96 runs. NZ: 249/6 (118 overs).
Jadeja strikes! He sends Ravindra back to the hut on 13. The ball spins big and off goes the off stump! NZ: 241/6 (110.4 overs)
India bring Ashwin and Jadeja back into the fold, hoping to bundle the opposition before the end of play. But both Blundell and Ravindra are holding their own quite well out there, with the latter hitting Ashwin for a measured boundary. NZ: 240/5 (110 overs)
Axar is on a roll in the second session! He scalps his third wicket of the innings as he deprives Latham of his 12th Test century. The spinner drops it short, turns big and finds it way to the keeper. Bharat completes the dismissal with an easy stumping with Latham acres away from his crease. The New Zealand opener departs on after a 282-ball 95. On comes Ravindra. NZ: 227/5 (102.1 overs)
Another one for Axar! Nicholls (2) misses the sweep and is given LBW! The batter goes for the review and the ball tracking shows impact... crashing into the stumps. India are fighting back strong either side of lunch. Next up? Blundell. NZ: 218/4 (97 overs)
And the pressure finally pays off! The lack of boundaries finally bites New Zealand back as Taylor (11) is removed by Axar! The batter looks to defend, gets an edge and it's taken by Bharat behind the wickets. On comes Nicholls next. NZ: 214/3 (94.3 overs)
Taylor (9*) and Latham (85*) continue to frustrate the likes of Umesh and Axar with some calm and composed batting. The New Zealand pair take it slow, only dealing in ones and twos. India are hoping to build on their momentum soon. NZ: 209/2 (90 overs)
Taylor comes in next to partner Latham and he starts off positively. A cracking four to deep mid-wicket. NZ: 201/2 (86 overs)
A mini fracas broke out between the umpire Nitin Menon, the bowler R Ashwin and the captain Ajinkya Rahane. It was about the way Ashwin was bowling when he went around the stumps. He would run across the stumps, move across the umpire’s vision and deliver the ball almost beside the non-striker. He would them step away from the danger area, and veer away from the non-striker.
An experienced first-class umpire, who wishes to remain anonymous, said it wasn’t about danger area or obstructing umpire’s vision but it was about obstructing the non-striker.
“It comes under fair play and the umpire has every right to do that. It’s basically common sense. Twice, at least, we saw Ashwin sort of amble across after releasing the ball. He didn’t exactly hurry to get off the path. In case there was a single opportunity, there would have been a collision.”
Initially when Menon started to exchange words it seemed that he was objecting to the bowler running on to the danger area. But replays made it clear that Ashwin wasn’t doing that.
Then the doubts were raised whether it was about obstructing the umpire’s vision, which again wasn’t the case.
After the fourth ball of the 76th over, things heated up. Menon told Ashwin sternly and Rahane too joined in the crime scene. When Menon took Ashwin aside for a chat, he got furious, and the two seemingly exchanged heated verbals. So much so that the game paused, and Rahane had to intervene and calm Ashwin down.
Ashwin bowled that way again after chat
The umpire says that’s why the next time after the heated debates when Ashwin did it again, he ran all the way across and got away from the pitch strip itself.
“That tells me that it wasn’t about danger area or umpire’s vision but about non-striker. The non striker can’t stand on the other side, as he then would be actually obstructing the vision of his partner on strike. As Ashwin’s run up would be from right behind him. He can of course go and stand near the square-leg but considering the green grass all around, it wouldn’t be sensible.
“All Ashwin had to do was to get away from the strip, which he did later after Menon spoke to him,” the umpire told this newspaper.
What’s the punishment?
“It’s just a friendly chat, a gentle warning basically first. As this comes within Fair Play. Only if things escalate, the umpire would give an official warning and let the rules take it its own course.”
Outside the boundary, Rahul Dravid was seen rushing to have a word with the matchrefereer Javagal Srinath, who was then seen chatting on phone.
“Do you think he called me? Nope, he didn’t. It could be about what’s for lunch, you know!” says the umpire with a laugh.
"Kane Williamson. Ross Taylor. Tom Latham. Or perhaps even Tom Blundell. If someone was quizzed which New Zealand batsman would be the first to get real close to getting a hundred against India with three spinners in Kanpur, not many would have picked Will Young. It wasn’t to be as he edged a floater from Ashwin that kept low and KS Bharat, standing in for the injured Wriddhiman Saha, plucked a superb catch. The wait for hundred might continue for now but this is a man who knows how to wait." | READ MORE |
A body blow! Umesh does the trick for the hosts as he traps Williamson between the wickets. The visiting skipper fails to get any bat on the in-angler and the ball hits his back pad. A review follows but to no avail. He departs on 18... and that's lunch on the third day! A brilliant morning session for India... 68 runs and two wickets. Latham's still in the middle on 82*. NZ: 197/2 (85.3 overs)
Time for a bit of pace! Umesh comes in place of Axar to provide a change of attack. Latham (82*) takes on the fast bowler and uses all of his pace to get it wide of gully for a four. Williamson's still batting on 17*. Four runs off the over. NZ: 196/1 (84 overs)
All spin attack for India right now as Ashwin and Axar try to work in tandem to scalp the second wicket of the innings. But the New Zealand batters are proving to be quite resilient. While Latham's on 73*, skipper Williamson is batting on 17*. NZ: 187/1 (80 overs)
India edging closer to the second wicket now! After Ashwin's close LBW call against Latham two overs back, Jadeja is left ruing after his over. A flatter delivery first misses Williamson's stumps and then another one doesn't carry to slip. NZ: 184/1 (76 overs)
Williamson (4*) comes on to steady the ship and support Latham (60*), who hits Ishant for yet another four. NZ: 161/1 (70 overs)
"Kane Williamson. Ross Taylor. Tom Latham. Or perhaps even Tom Blundell. If someone was quizzed which New Zealand batsman would be the first to get real close to getting a hundred against India with three spinners in Kanpur, not many would have picked Will Young. It wasn’t to be as he edged a floater from Ashwin that kept low and KS Bharat, standing in for the injured Wriddhiman Saha, plucked a superb catch. The wait for hundred might continue for now but this is a man who knows how to wait." | READ MORE |
There's the breakthrough! Ashwin finally finds the apt variation, bowls a flatter delivery outside off stump and forces Young (89) on the back foot. The batter gets a faint outside edge and substitute keeper Bharat takes the catch staying low. NZ: 151/1 (66.1 overs)
A boundary per over, that's the mantra of New Zealand right now as the hosts continue to fail to find a breakthrough. Latham (56*) punishes Ishant with a cover drive first and then Young (89*) clears mid-on against Ashwin. On a roll now! NZ: 151/0 (65 overs)
Young (85*) picks up from where he left off on the second day! Playing quite carefully against Ashwin, the batter chooses to take on Ishant instead. Two overs and two confident boundaries to get him closer to a maiden Test century. NZ: 143/0 (63 overs)
Ishant Sharma starts the proceedings and he bowls a maiden over, keeping Young (75*) in check throughout. NZ: 129/0 (58 overs)
Shreyas Iyer has achieved stardom on the basis of his exploits in white-ball cricket. He has led Delhi Capitals in the IPL with some success, and has represented India 54 times across ODIs and T20Is. Amid all this, the fact that he has also played the same number of first-class matches — with more than 4500 runs at an average of 52.18 – has slipped under the radar. | READ MORE |
As per the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the senior team's tour to South Africa for three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is, starting on December 17, is on at the moment, although the situation is being considered as fluid. | READ MORE |
"Three years ago, during a break at his Manawatu Waihora Farm in Whangerei, Tim Southee contemplated his future. He had just turned 30, the onset of sporting middle-age, and visualised how he would like to see himself five years down the line. “I knew it was time I planned a bit more about my career, so that I continue to be a relevant cricketer,” he told an NZC podcast." | READ MORE |
"The son of a former makeshift opener for his country and a natural science degree dropout combined to produce the most memorable day for a pair of New Zealand openers in Asia. Together, for 57 overs, Tom Latham (50*) and Will Young (75*) monumentally defied and blunted India’s trio of well-worn spinners without enduring too many nervous moments." | READ MORE |
India (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell(w), Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, Kyle Jamieson, William Somerville
Hello and welcome to the live commentary and updates of the first Test between India and New Zealand, taking place at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The visiting openers have cut down India's lead to 216 runs. Can they overturn it today? Stay tuned!