Mumbai Veteran leftarm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took his 14th fivefor and Washington Sundar took four as India bowled out New Zealand for 235 on the first day of the third and final Test of the 2024 series at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.
Jadeja took 565, striking twice with a double, while Sundar took two wickets each in the morning and evening sessions and scalped 481 as the Indian bowlers took full advantage of the turning track.
New Zealand crossed the 200run mark thanks to Will Young and Daryl Mitchell, who added 89 runs for the fourth wicket. Young patiently scored 71 runs, while Mitchell scored 82 runs in 129 balls with the help of three fours and three sixes. Only four New Zealand batsmen were able to reach double figures, as the visitors lost six wickets for 76 runs.
Earlier, Sundar's dismissal of Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra in almost identical fashion, after Akash Deep gave India the breakthrough by dismissing Devon Conway LBW for four, was the highlight of the morning session as New Zealand took the lead at lunch. Till now the score was 923.
Sundar, who was brought in as the second change in place of Akash Deep, hit two quick blows to take the initiative for India. He first dismissed Latham with a brilliant ball, which fell on the offstump and went straight and hit the stumps. Latham was out after scoring 28 runs in 44 balls with the help of three fours.
The biggest breakthrough for India was the cheap dismissal of Rachin Ravindra, as Sundar repeated the delivery that dismissed Latham, sending this ball away from the crease, which went beyond the defensive end and hit the off stump. This was the third consecutive time that Ravindra was bowled by Washington Sundar.
New Zealand's score in the 20th over was 723. As a spinner, Sundar was a bit disorganized and bowled five noballs in his first spell of 12 overs. Young, who showed his aggressive instincts by using his legs and hitting Ashwin's ball over wide longon for a six and sending Sundar sweeping to the left of the keeper for the boundary, kept going from the other end and got him through Mitchell. Got good support, due to which he took New Zealand beyond 100 runs. Young was a little lucky as the ball went away from the fielders and India's DRS review, but he made the most of the opportunity. Daryl Mitchell survived when his LBW decision was overturned as he gloved the ball on his pads. He also struggled in the heat and humid conditions, playing with an ice pack on his shoulder and looking for extra fluids between overs.
Jadeja took all three wickets that fell after lunch, breaking a crucial partnership between Young and Mitchell, who added 89 runs for the fourth wicket, as the visitors faced the heat and humid conditions and the Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, who were in good hands with the pitch. Were getting turn, had to struggle to deal with both.
He ended the fourthwicket partnership when he got enough turn on a full length ball just outside the offstump and the ball fell into the hands of Rohit Sharma at first slip.
Three balls later, the leftarm spinner took another wicket when he clipped Tom Blundell's bat through the middle stump and clipped it at off. His third wicket came in the form of Glenn Phillips, who bowled a fast ball which slipped through the hands and went past the bat and hit the stumps.
Lacking partners, Mitchell, who risked his hands by topedging a sweep to the boundary and edging past Kohli at backward short leg, took three wickets in Sundar's three overs. Hit three sixes. He pulled a short ball from inside the crease over midwicket for six and then hit two sixes off Sundar in the 62nd over, which slipped over the bowler's head and down the wicket and then hit a big six over longoff.
Sundar had the last laugh when he sent back Mitchell, who scored 82 runs off 129 balls with three fours and as many sixes and remained at the crease even in difficult conditions. New Zealand's innings ended 42 minutes after tea when Ajaz Patel was trapped in front of the wicket and dismissed.
Brief Score:
New Zealand all out for 235 in 65.4 overs (Daryl Mitchell 82, Will Young 71; Ravindra Jadeja 565, Washington Sundar 481)
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.