India vs New Zealand: Why Sunday at the Wankhede will be a fitting finale to the Test series | Cricket News
An engrossing day ended with eleven Indian cricketers and two New Zealand batsmen retreating to the pavilion with jerseys smeared with red dirt, hands sticky with sweat, and shoulders creaking. It was a day that could have drained their emotions and taxed their wits, that saw them both squander and seize advantage. Whereas India have a foot firmly inside the victory chamber, having reduced New Zealand to 171/9, their lead a manageable 143 runs, the door is slightly ajar for the visitors too, thus setting the stage for a pulsating climax on the third day, befitting the wild fluctuations of fortunes this series had endured.
The action of the day was compelling and projected the varied thrills of a Test match. Three high-class half-centuries of varied types were etched. A breezy counterpunching from Rishabh Pant, a composed 90 from Shubman Gill and a resolute 51 from Will Young. Ajaz Patel dusted up his old flame with a five-for; Akash Deep conjured arguably the ball of the game in his over, India’s spinners bowled with guile and deceit; Ravi Ashwin pulled off a marvellous catch to alter the game’s mood.
Both sides would reflect on the moments that they seized and those that they spilled, the killer instincts that forsook both, how close they were in twing the dagger on each other’s torsos, as well as the wherewithal to ensure that they clung onto the cliff, when a nudge would have pushed them into the ass of defeat. The visitors were drawing circles in the air when the Pant-Shubman pair—the gleaming present and future of Indian cricket—peeled off 96 runs in 114 balls. Of those 79 arrived in the first hour alone, before they dialled a more conservative approach. Nothing worked, neither the bowlers nor the plans. With a blend of daring and smarts, they shredded New Zealand’s best-laid plans, aided no less the greasy hands of the fielders. At 180 for 4 on a ragged surface, New Zealand could sniff the putrid smell of defeat.
Shubman Gill gets to his 7th Test half-century!
An entertaining FIFTY partnership comes 🆙 between him and Rishabh Pant 🤜🤛#TeamIndia trail 83 runs
Live – https://t.co/KNIvTEyxU7#INDvNZ | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/in6ILLdrzG
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 2, 2024
But the Kiwis are masterful at inching back into the game without sound and fury. They plot comebacks quietly, without a rumble of the leaves. There are no grand schemes or tactical ingenuity, but discipline and belief. The knack of getting the right wicket at the right time has been a feature of their triumph. Pant and Gill were dragging the game away from them when Ish Sodhi, playing his first Test in 10 months, trapped Pant LBW. The association, which began in a counterattacking mood before reverting to steadier riffs, had punctured New Zealand’s resance. But the wicket arrived just at the opportune moment. Post lunch, Patel and Glenn Phillips expedited India’s collapse with the wickets of Ravindra Jadeja and Sarfaraz Khan, the home-boy for a four-ball duck. With the New Zealand total in sight, Gill too perished, leaving the Indian ship tossing in the violent seas.
At this point — 227/8 when Gill departed — a deficit loomed. But Washington Sundar flicked on the afterburners to gather a 27-run lead. Just 35 minutes remained for tea, but that nine-over mini-session produced a suspenseful watch. The sun battering down, the red earth glimmering, the crowd on the edge of their seats, waiting for an event to occur every ball. Their gasps and sighs formed the backdrop of an intriguing phase.
😉#INDvNZ #IDFCFirstBankTestTrophy #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/13MNtSwl5t
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 2, 2024
Beauty from Akash Deep
Akash Deep set the stage with a malevolent nip-backer that burst through Tom Latham’s push. A ball ago, Latham was saved an inside edge upon review for an lbw. But this time he couldn’t prevent the full ball at pace nipping deviously late into him to uproot the off-stump and smack the middle one.
Akash Deep roared in rage. India could sense the kill. The new-ball seamed, spun and bounced uncomfortably. But New Zealand survived to nearly equal India’s lead. It balanced out a session wherein the visitors had clawed back into the game with disciplined bowling.
The flip-side of the bounding energy is that frustration mounts when a batsman plays and misses, an edge falls fizzes past the fielder, or when a ball keeps low but without the reward of a wicket. Impatience kicks in, discipline begins to ebb, and the bowlers lose the clarity and rhythm. e and leg-es aggravate the pain. But just before the break point Washington and Ashwin prised out Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra in the space of seven balls. New Zealand stared at a quick bundling up, as it often unfolds in these neck of the woods.
But the respite was fleeting, as Young and Daryl Mitchell diligently quietened the crowd. They rode luck and were at times clueless about the balls that misbehaved. Surviving on this surface required a pact with the devil, a reconciliation that an unplayable would arrive at any time but they would perform their part to protect the wicket. As the evening wore on, India’s patience weaned. Misfields and overthrows became frequent. They needed a surge of inspiration. Ashwin provided the moment of benediction for India with an exemplary catch to dismiss Mitchell, who was chiming in with lusty blows. The day would see 77 runs more runs and five wickets including that of the defiant Young. It left just enough suspense for a racy whodunit script on the final day of a riveting series.
