New Zealand etched their name into the history books by beating India by 25 runs in the third test in Mumbai on Sunday (November 3). They became the first team to win all games in a test series involving three or more matches on Indian soil.
The third day of the fixture witnessed Ravindra Jadeja completing his fifer, as New Zealand were bundled out for 174. As a result, India needed 147 runs to win the game.
The Indian top-order failed to provide a good start yet again, as they fell in quick succession. Although, skipper Rohit Sharma (11) started well by hitting two boundaries, he miscued a pull shot against Matt Henry. The dismissal opened the floodgates for the visitors.
Then, Ajaz Patel dismissed Shubman Gill (1) and Virat Kohli (1) to put India in a spot of bother. The part-time spinner Glenn Phillips used the angle well to trap Yashasvi Jaiswal (5). Soon, Sarfaraz Khan (1) couldn’t utilize Patel’s full-toss and his ill-timed shot saw him holed out at the deep square leg region.
Although, the partnership of Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant looked on course to steer the team; however, Pant was the key aggressor. Patel’s ball turned sharply and took the edge of Jadeja, as he dismissed for 6, and left India reeling at 71/6.
At this point of time, Pant used his counter-attacking abilities to put the pressure back on the New Zealand side. He used his feet well and employed sweep shots to score odd boundaries. As the keeper-batter was playing well, he charged against Patel, but the turn offered from the surface resulted in ball ruffling the pads and going into the keeper’s gloves.
Although, Pant was given not-out, the visitors took a review and the replay showed that the ball made an alleged connection with the bat. At the same time, Rishabh Pant’s bat also touched the pads; however, he was deemed out after a spike on the UltraEdge. He was dismissed for a well-compiled 64 off 57 balls, with nine fours and a six.
Indian tail surrender to New Zealand spinners
After Rishabh Pant’s dismissal, all eyes were on Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar, who possess the capability to score crucial runs for the Indian team.
Although, Ravichandran Ashwin tried well, he was still struggling against Ajaz Patel as the ball went past his edge on multiple occasions. He played an unconvential reverse sweep, and completely missed to make contact, as Glenn Phillips’ delivery caught a bit of glove, and was dismissed for 8.
Phillips went on to breach the defense of Akash Deep in the next delivery to stun the Indian side. The next over witnessed Sundar (12) trying to go big and getting clean bowled by Ajaz Patel. As a result, India were bundled out for 121.
