India won this first Test of the three-match series and Ashwin was named the man of the match for his outstanding figures of 9 for 128 as India went on to win this match by 5 wickets as they successfully chased a target of 276 runs in the second innings.
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New Zealand were tottering at 93 for four in their second innings with the exuberant Luke Ronchi (38) and the steady Mitchell Santner (8) at the crease when stumps were drawn on the fourth day.
# India (377 for five wickets declared) have posted their second highest total in the second innings at Kanpur behind the 400 for seven declared vs South Africa in December 1996.
“It was a tough day on a typical day-three wicket”, New Zealand’s B.J. Watling said. Rahane became Santner’s second victim, but that only brought Rohit and Jadeja together for the day’s most entertaining stand.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, who dominated the spinners yesterday evening, were more subdued in the morning.
Rohit’s 68 came off 93 balls with eight boundaries while Jadeja entertained the Sunday crowd with two fours and three sixes in his 58-ball stay.
It was this pair of Pujara and Vijay that had troubled the visitors with their resolute half-centuries in the first innings as well. The umpires called for tea break, immediately after Rahul’s wicket. The next one that pitched on the line of the off-stump and straightened, deceived Vijay, who played for the turn.
The Indians too had faltered in their first innings from being 154 for one to 318 all out.
New Zealand’s batting woes began in the first nine overs of the day when they lost Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.
Ravichandran Ashwin removed both the openers -Martin Guptill (0) and Tom Latham (2) – in the space of five balls to cause ripples in the rival camp.
Take a deep breath Black Caps fans. Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner steadied the Kiwi innings somewhat after the visitors lost top four batsmen early.
# Jadeja to Ronchi, he’s out!
India took the new ball immediately after 80 overs and asked Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami to start the post-lunch session.
“Batsmen who are not familiar with Indian or Asian conditions often can not make up their mind which ball to defend and which one to attack”, Jadeja said. The ball, with bounce and drift, went past the outside edge of Vijay’s bat.
It was early in 2013 when Australia had a four-Test match series lined up against India, of which the first Test was scheduled to be played at MA Chidambaram stadium. The next best is Stuart MacGill who struck every 54 balls.
Incoming batsman Kohli, who was struggling from the beginning was also sent back to the pavilion by Mark Craig in the 68th over.
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Ravichandran Ashwin became the ninth Indian bowler to complete 200 wickets or more in Tests.
