Mitchell Santner (3-77) led the way, while Trent Boult (3-52) claimed three wickets in a magnificent spell with the second new ball in the evening session on what proved to be a fruitful day for the tourists after a tough start.
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Indian opener Murali Vijay admitted Thursday that some of his teammates were guilty of playing loose shots to let go the advantage in the first Test against New Zealand here but asserted that the hosts have put up a fighting total to make a game out of it.
In the historic 500th Test match for India, Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav were at the crease with 16 and 8 runs, respectively.
The 24-year-old hit four boundaries, and a six off Mitchell Santner, before getting a faint edge to wicketkeeper BJ Watling in the left-arm spinner’s second over. Their 112-run partnership was the fifth highest for the second wicket in Tests at Green Park.
The pair brought up their half-centuries in quick succession during the afternoon session, but Santner was rewarded for his persistence when Pujara gifted him a simple catch off his own bowling.
Vijay top-scored for the hosts with a 65 but himself played a poor shot, a cut off a not-so-short ball off leg-break bowler Ish Sodhi and was caught behind. Total: (for 9 wkts.in 90 overs) 291.
That prompted a collapse, as skipper Virat Kohli fell for nine and Vijay followed soon after. That was all the success New Zealand could manage in the first session. He picked three wickets by conceding just 57 runs.
10 Fifty-plus scores by Cheteshwar Pujara in 28 Test innings at home. The last time was in 2014 at Lord’s in second innings.
New Zealand, having lost the toss, may have been on the back foot at the start of the day but they fought back with a planned effort. It was pretty flat to start with. They are 2/5 to win this Test as opposed to an offer of 9/2 for a Kiwi win. “First things first is to get this last wicket early tomorrow, then with the bat build little partnerships and go from there”.
India limped to 291 for 9 at the close of play but with the pitch rapidly deteriorating the runs they were able to get in the morning session may prove to be the difference between the two sides when all is said and done. So with experience, they can only get better.
“The pitch is on the slower side, and it’s going to be lower as well, so it’s going to be hard for scoring shots”, he said.
“I think we are in a good position”, he said.
“There’s a lot of cricket to be played still”. We have got to be really patient on this wicket.
“I think we are in a good position”, the right-hander said. The spinners knew they were bowling to some good players of spin and didn’t try to to experiment.
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Both the batsmen looked in sublime form as they played some elegant strokes, much to the dismay of the local fans.
