India close in on series lead

Hosts need just six more wickets to go 1-0 up in three-match series

KANPUR: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three wickets to leave New Zealand reeling at 93-4 at stumps with India tightening their grip on the first Test match in Kanpur yesterday.

New Zealand were still 341 runs behind their mammoth target of 434, with Luke Ronchi (38) and Mitchell Santner (8) battling on in India’s 500th Test.

The batting duo put on 37 runs for the fifth wicket to steady New Zealand’s innings after the visitors were reduced to 56-4.

Ronchi, who has hit four fours and one six during his 58-ball stay, played with a positive intent to tackle the spinners on a turning day four track.



Ashwin rocked the New Zealand innings in his second over when he sent openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham trudging back to the pavilion.

Guptill was unlucky as he got an inside edge onto his pads and the ball lobbed into the hands of Murali Vijay at short leg. He was out for nought.

The left-handed Latham, who scored a gritty 58 in the first innings, was trapped lbw for two as the batsman played for the off-break that did not turn.

Ashwin then got the prized wicket of captain Kane Williamson for 25. It was Ashwin’s 200th Test wicket in his 37th match, reaching the landmark just one game more than record-holder Australia’s Clarrie Grimmett, who raced to 200 wickets in 36 games.



The visitors continued to slip further as Ross Taylor was run out for 17 after Umesh Yadav’s direct throw from deep mid-wicket hit the stumps at the non-strikers end.

India declared their second innings on 377-5 at tea with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja putting on a 100-run unbeaten partnership for the sixth wicket.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2016.

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