IND v NZ, 2nd Test Day 3 Review: Rohit Sharma helps India pile on the lead

With rain taking over the most part of the final session of the second day’s play, it was clear that India was well and truly on top. However, a few acrimonious incidents on the cusp of the close of Day 2 meant that the Indians were perhaps in the best position of claiming a victory, their second on the spin.

However, little did they know what awaited them on the third day’s play of the second IND v NZ Test. Jeetan Patel and BJ Watling resumed play for New Zealand. They were on the back foot right from the start as the Indians looked as though they wanted to clear the tail as soon as possible.

A close run-out saw BJ Watling preserve his wicket as Jeetan Patel and the former decided to stitch a partnership. They began to play a few delightful shots on the morning with Jeetan Patel, in particular, proving to be a menace for the Indian bowlers. He smashed boundary after boundary as Virat Kohli did his level best not to loose his temper under the beard and the glasses.

Patel proved to be somewhat of a cat with nine lives when he survived a leg-before decision. In spite of being given out by umpire Rod Tucker, the delivery was adjudged to be a no-ball as the 36-year old off spinner was handed a second lifeline. This proved to be a bridge too far for Patel as he was soon removed by Ravi Ashwin attempting one aggressive stroke too many.

Also check out – Twitter Reactions: Team India in the driver’s seat after Rohit’s fifty

Mohammad Shami removed BJ Watling soon after as the Indians stood on the brink of a first innings lead of slightly over 100 runs. Neil Wagner and Trent Boult trimmed down the lead by a short margin with a couple of massive slogs into the stands.

The Indians however, came out to bat a few short minutes later with the lunch break on the horizon. Shikhar Dhawan was dealt with a few blows to his thumb a couple of times by a Trent Boult who had his tail up and ready to make the batsmen pay. However, both batsmen exhibited phenomenal survival instincts when they both preserved their wickets at the stroke of lunch.

The post-lunch session, however, saw the Indians on the back foot yet again as the Kiwi pacers came back absolutely determined to make an impact in the grand scheme of things. The first to go was the irresistible Murali Vijay who was dismissed to a similar delivery as he was dismissed in the first innings by Matt Henry.

In his very next over, the unplayable Matt Henry then went on to remove Cheteshwar Pujara who seemed as though his bad luck continued when he was trapped leg-before by somewhat of a rising and reversing delivery from Henry.

Also read – India v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 3 – 5 Talking Points

The wicket seemed to be a watershed for the New Zealand seamers as the wickets continued to tumble. Ajinkya Rahane then went ahead and top-edged one to fine leg as the Indians found themselves in a bit of trouble.

It took a massive effort from skipper Virat Kohli to smash his way to 45 immensely important runs. However, a delivery from Trent Boult that kept a bit low ensured that Kohli’s innings would not last as long as the Indian skipper would have wanted. Ravi Ashwin also lost his wicket to a leg-before as Mitchell Santner got into the act.

Thus, at the tea break, the Indians found themselves with four wickets left to play with and a healthy lead of over 200 runs. At the interval, things did not look as rosy as the Indians would make it look at the end of the day’s play.

Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha came into the final session with a definitive target in mind. They were to help the Indians take their lead over the 300-run mark. While they went about doing so, Rohit Sharma exhibited some phenomenal batsmanship and some class, something that is most certainly the hallmark of his batting.

He began to show the ‘lazy aggression’ that he usually does in ODIs with some fantastic batting. While he was the driving force behind the amassing of the score, he was joined by Wriddhiman Saha, the unsung hero of the first innings. Playing on his home ground, Saha demonstrated the importance of batting with the tail soon to follow.

After smashing 82 runs, he was trapped by the irresistible Mitchell Santner. Ravindra Jadeja was soon dismissed by Santner as the former looked to up the ante by a few notches. Wriddhiman Saha, however, remained unbeaten on 39 at the end of the day’s play.

Brief Scores

India, 1st innings: 316 all out

New Zealand, 1st innings: 204 all out (J Patel 47; B Kumar 5/48)

India, 2nd innings: 227/8 (R Sharma 82; M Henry 3/44)