IND vs NZ: From Yashasvi Jaiswal’s ill-advised shot to Virat Kohli’s misjudged run, how fans were left stunned at Wankhede | Cricket News
Dusk brought drama to the Wankhede Stadium. The evening was unfolding smoothly for India—New Zealand bowled out, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill batting without ado—when the script turned awry, leaving the contest on a knife edge. In the space of 10 wild minutes, Jaiswal reverse swept to his doom, the night watchman Mohammed Siraj survived a lone ball, miserably burned a review and Virat Kohli ran himself out for a non-exent single, the slinging, sniper-eyed throw of Matt Henry stranding him despite a full-stretch dive. From 78/1, India stumbled to 86/4 in 11 balls.
The pendulum swing shocked the spectators. Even after the players retreated to the dressing room, they lingered on in disbelief, before they headed to the exit doors. Three favourites of theirs had returned to the pavilion. Even Ravindra Jadeja, when asked about the meltdown, joked that he didn’t have the time to process it. There was a farcical nature to it.
Until that moment, Jaiswal was raising the spirit of the crowd, batting with the maturity of a veteran, dousing every possible danger the surface and the bowlers threw up. And then in a snap-of-the-moment misjudgment, he picked a reverse sweep of all the tools in his kit. It’s one of his high-yield strokes, but on a surface with turn and bounce, when other strokes of his were working, when end-of-play was encroaching, it was ill-advised. Or even suicidal. He had watched throughout the day how one wicket ushers in a cluster. But when you are young and confident, the mind is fertile for indiscretion.
Matt Henry’s direct hit catches Virat Kohli short 😯#INDvNZ #IDFCFirstBankTestTrophy #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/cL4RvUdMST
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 1, 2024
So with just two overs to negotiate, he strangely preempted the reverse sweep. He telegraphed his design prematurely, hunkered down and switched his stance. Patel just had to bowl it full and flat on his stumps. Jaiswal missed and was bowled. Later, Jadeja admitted such incidents happen in Test cricket. “Chotta, motta galtiyom hota hain, game mein sab hain,” he said.
Rather, such incidents tend to be more frequent when the batting group is struggling, when their morale is shattered. A team that has picked a habit of collapsing will find one way or the other to collapse again. One that could be fatal in Australia too. It has not snowballed to the 46 or 54/7 or 53/6 scale, but 6/3 has a throbbing potential to enlarge into another crushing tale of self-destruction.
Drama intensified. Siraj walked in and was trapped in front, first ball. It’s only expected, sometimes night watchmen don’t survive till close of play. Ludicrous, though, was the review he binned. The ball had hit his back-leg in line with the off-stump. There was no edge either. Still Siraj, ever DRS-eager, consulted and walked back repenting his impulse.
Walked in Kohli, to the familiar delirium that greets him around the world. Five balls to stumps, he whipped Rachin Ravindra gorgeously through midwicket for a four. The sort of stroke that implies his emphatic mood. The next ball, Kohli pushed to mid-on, saw an onrushing Matt Henry, but still scurried for the run. A shrewd judge of singles, the over-keenness to reach the non-striker’s end nipped his latest shot at redemption. He underestimated the power and accuracy of Henry as well as the sacred truism—never challenge a bowler’s arm—and saw himself a few inches behind the crease when the ball hit the base of the stumps. As with the contagious nature of collapses, batsmen swimming through rough waters would find themselves new means to get out. It was only the fourth time in 200 innings that Kohli was run out.
The Kiwis burst into hysteria, at the slice of luck they never expected. Three cheap wickets in 11 balls on a surface with demons yet to reach its full fury. It could be the reward for their toils on an excruciatingly hot and humid afternoon. Soon after lunch, the temperature soared. After every fifth over, an informal drinks break was called so that the cricketers could replenish their energy. In the hour-break, purple umbrellas with giant leaves and plastic chairs were dragged into the middle. Between overs, New Zealand batsmen slumped to the red-hot earth. The squad members wrapped ice packs around them. The spectators in the front row retreated to the upper tiers. Exhausted, they preserved their voice only to celebrate the wickets.
It was so tiring that the batsmen refused doubles even when there was an opportunity. Kohli would wipe the sweat off Jadeja’s hands with a towel. “It was difficult to grip the ball. The ball kept slipping out of my hands,” the left-arm spinner admitted. It tested their physical and mental reserves. “It was the first hour after lunch with me and Will Young batting, it was seriously warm and without breeze. We were just trying to be switched on when batting and switching off between deliveries, so that we could conserve our energy,” Daryll Mitchell, the visitors’ top-scorer, said.
The moment tea was called, Mitchell jumped into an ice bath and sat quietly for 10 minutes. The sun grew milder as the evening unfolded, before it all turned pleasant in the end. But Mitchell warned of an Indian backlash, while Jadeja emphasised on the need to build “chota mota partnerships” and take the game deep. But those ten minutes of dusk-time drama would be revisited and retold a few times in the future.
