1st Test: India 57/0 at tea, trail by 299 runs after Ravindra ton takes NZ to 402
Bengaluru: Rachin Ravindra made a stupendous hundred and Tim Southee a fluent fifty as New Zealand gained a massive first-innings lead of 356 runs to keep India on the backfoot on the third day of the first Test here on Friday.
In their second innings, India were 57 for no loss when tea was taken, still behind by 299 runs. Skipper Rohit Sharma (27) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (29) were at the crease.
New Zealand were bowled out for 402 in their first innings an hour into the second session with Ravindra (134, 157b) and Southee (65, 73b) clubbing 134 runs during a flowing eighth wicket stand.
Resuming the day from 180 for three, New Zealand might have hoped to build considerably on the advantage but the spirited Indian bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja (3/72) took some early wickets to reduce them to 233 for seven.
They lost Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tom Blundell and Matt Henry in this period.
Jasprit Bumrah snaffled Blundell while Mohammed Siraj had the number of Mitchell, both perishing in the slip and gully cordon.
The crafty Jadeja’s quick left-arm darts pinned both Phillips and Henry on the backfoot as both of them lost their middle stumps.
The Black Caps were ahead by 187 runs at that time and it was not a safe position considering a relatively more eased out pitch and bright conditions.
It was imperative for the Kiwis to take the lead at least till the 250-mark to maintain their edge over India.
Ravindra and Southee exceeded the expectations during their alliance to extend their team’s lead past the 300-run mark.
Ravindra started cautiously after seeing a flurry of wickets at the other end, but unfurled his full range once he and the pitch settled down past the first-hour mark.
The 24-year-old, who has his family roots in Bengaluru, showed the correct method to play Indian spinners on this track, either staying on the front foot or making a shimmy down the pitch that nullified the turn and also took the leg before dismissal out of the equation.
A thundering six off Jadeja took him to 94 and he reached 98 by dispatching the very next ball to the fence through the covers.
There were no nerves as a cleanly swept four off Ravichandran Ashwin carried him to his second Test hundred, which he celebrated with gusto.
Southee, who hammered a couple of his trademark sixes, gave solid company to Ravindra and duly completed his seventh Test fifty immediately after the lunch.
The burgeoning alliance was snapped by a slower ball from Siraj which Southee spooned to Jadeja at covers.
Ravindra followed soon top-edging Kuldeep Yadav (3/99) to Dhruv Jurel as the Kiwis’ innings came to a close.
India needed a solid start to their second innings to stay afloat in the match, and Rohit and Jaiswal did exactly that while taking the home side to tea without damage.
Jaiswal was a bit nervous to start, getting beaten by Henry and Southee, but Rohit was smooth and played a couple of silken flicks off pacers as India will hope for some more runs from the duo in the final session.
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