From my childhood to Under-17, Under-19 till now, I’ve played on turners or unprepared pitches.
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The only time the Black Caps lost five wickets for less than this was against Sri Lanka back in 1992 when they lost five wickets for just five runs.
Jadeja struck in the next over, dismissing Ross Taylor LBW for a duck with a delivery that appeared to slide down the leg side, but there was no such ambiguity when Ashwin clean bowled Williamson (75) with a ripper three overs later. A first-innings lead of 56 isn’t necessarily decisive, but the two had nearly shut New Zealand out of the game by stumps, adding 107 in just 173 balls. Both Vijay and Pujara completed their respective fifties as the umpires called it a day with India leading by 215 runs at 159/1. The visiting side had begun the third day trailing by 166 runs.
Interestingly, before the Centurion Test, Taylor had scored 366 runs in four innings without being dismissed even once.
It happened in 1999 when Nash claimed six for 27 to help bowl out India for 83 on the opening day of the first Test at Mohali on October 10, 1999. The last pair to do so was Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer against England at Nagpur in 2006.
Perhaps the rationale behind the move was that New Zealanders’ footwork was cagey against off-spin and a left-hander in Santner was also at the crease. That was against Bangladesh at Chiitagong in 2008 when they chased 317.
Mark Craig was unlucky to get a ball that stayed extremely low, while Ish Sodhi just could not get his bat down in time, giving Jadeja a couple of lbws.
Spin duo Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin combined to cause the chaos, with the former picking up three wickets in a single over. There was a slight glint in his eye as if to suggest “wait for me in the second innings”. 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. They have featured in 12 Tests together for India and have taken 65 percent of the wickets of the total the team has managed. However, his best bowling figures still are his 6-for against South Africa at Durban in 2013. Join The Roar for live scores from the third day of the Test at Kanpur, beginning from 2pm (AEST). They had lost 5 wickets for five runs against Sri Lanka in Colomo (PSS).
Jadeja said he was not surprised to see so many wickets fall lbw and echoed sentiments Watling had made about the visitors limited experience playing in such challenging conditions.
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New Zealand’s only wicket came in the last over before tea, when KL Rahul late-cut Sodhi straight into slip’s hands. Late on Day 2 the Green Park stripped had soaked in a bit of rain that had wiped out the final session and it was certain that the well set batsmen Kane Williamson and Tom Latham would have an uphill task negotiating the turn and grip of the Day 3 pitch.
