By: Pramod Thomas
INDIA on Sunday (5) set New Zealand a daunting 540 to win the second Test, with the Kiwis’ Mumbai-born spinner Ajaz Patel taking 14 of the hosts’ 17 wickets to fall.
A wicket and a spider cam problem forced early tea on day three with Will Young batting on seven for the tourists but stand-in skipper Tom Latham sent off for six by Ravichandran Ashwin.
The hosts declared their second innings on 276-7 with Ajaz, who took a record 10 wickets in India’s 325 in the first innings, returning match figures of 14-225 — the best ever by a bowler against India.
The previous best was England fast bowler Ian Botham’s 13-106 in Mumbai in 1980.
Rachin Ravindra took the other three Indian wickets including Shubman Gill (47) and skipper Virat Kohli (36).
Axar Patel hit an unbeaten 41 before India called off their innings in the second session on day three.
Overnight batsmen Mayank Agarwal (62) and Cheteshwar Pujara (47) put on 107 runs to take the attack to the opposition in the first hour of play.
Agarwal, who made 150 in India’s first innings of 325, reached his fifty with a six off Ajaz and followed it up with another boundary to signal his attacking intent.
He finally fell to Ajaz, who almost bowled unchanged from his end in the morning session, after another attempt to go for the big shot got him caught at long-off.
Pujara, who hit Ajaz for two successive boundaries early in the morning, was denied his fifty after being caught at slip.
He returned 10-119 in India’s first innings on day two to emulate England’s Jim Laker and Indian spin legend Anil Kumble for 10 wickets in one innings.
New Zealand’s batting collapsed to 62 all out in the final session on Saturday, leaving India with a lead of 263.
(AFP)
