If the nationality of the wit that thought this up was Indian rather than British, the saying would have involved wickets on spinning pitches, rather than buses.
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The “one wicket will bring many” truism was brought to life spectacularly by the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin on Saturday (September 24) in Kanpur, where India seized control of the first Test against New Zealand.
Asked about the sharp spinning ball from Ravichandran Ashwin that flummoxed captain Kane Willamson, Watling said: “Yeah, you could probably say that (best ball of day)”. But India edged ahead with the wicket of Ronchi. “It put doubts in the batsmen’s mind”. As Jadeja led the team into the pavilion after the end of the New Zealand innings, having garnered his fifth five-wicket haul, the first one to greet him was coach Anil Kumble. Vijay and Pujara amplified that advantage into an nearly impregnable position. Chasing 374 for victory, the match ended with New Zealand losing seven wickets for 251.
The lead swelled to 215 by the close of play as Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara once again combined for unbeaten century-stand.
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.
I think the first 20 overs, when the ball has a bit of gloss in it, it doesn’t turn much.
TO BAT: R. Taylor, L. Ronchi, B.J. Watling, M. Santner, M. Craig, I. Sodhi, N. Wagner, T. Boult.
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. Ashwin added the finishing touches and deceived Watling in flight to claim an easy return catch. The remaining batsmen were not expected to counter the Indian spinners who were now at the top of their game. Pujara maintained a high tempo throughout his innings and reached his second 50 in the match, a feat matched by Vijay, whose 14th test 50 included seven fours and a six. This news story is related to Latest/152342-New-Zealand-collapse-262-concede-lead-India/ – breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Then Kane Williamson, who was in command, got just the kind of delivery which could have dismissed him. There were lofted shots down the ground, inside-out cover-drives, and even a reverse-sweep and an upper-cut. “We talked about that, we know it’s tough to start in these conditions and we’ve definitely got to do that better in our second innings”, he said while replying to question if the wicket changed from Sunday.
Leg-break bowler Ish Sodhi had Rahul caught at first slip in the fag end of extended second session.
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The decision was referred to the third umpire who ruled in the batsman’s favour after replays suggested the ball had touched the chin strap of Rahul’s helmet. A succession of long-hops and short balls found the fence with regularity, as the first 2.5 overs after tea brought 30 runs.
