India spinner Ravindra Jadeja trapped Ross Taylor lbw at the stroke of tea-break as New Zealand lost their fourth wicket in chase of 284 on Day 5 of the ongoing first Test in Kanpur. At the tea break, New Zealand were 125/4, still needing 159 runs to win at the Green Park Stadium on Monday.
The second session turned out to be a productive one for the hosts considering how New Zealand thwarted India attack with Tom Latham and Will Somerville taking their team to lunch unscathed while also raising faint hopes of an unlikely win.
However, first ball after lunch, Umesh Yadav made the breakthrough as a diving Shubman Gill caught nightwatcman Somerville on 36 to give India an opening.
1st Test, Day 5 Blog: India vs New Zealand
But Latham continued to resist India, reaching a well-compiled fifty and then Ravichandran Ashwin had him dragging one back onto the stumps to be bowled on 52 off 146. That wicket also took Ashwin past Harbhajan Singh’s tally of 417 wickets as he became India’s third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket behind Anil Kumble (619) and Kapil Dev (434).
Ross Taylor joined captain Kane Williamson and together they dropped anchor as India continued their hunt for wickets. With each passing over, the likeliness of a draw was getting brighter. Jadeja made a timely blow to give India a glimmer of hope when Taylor was trapped lbw on 2 off 24.
Williamson though is still unbeaten on 24 off 97 having struck three sumptuous boundaries so far.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 125/4 in 63.1 overs (Tom Latham 52; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/28) need 159 runs to win vs India 345 and 234/7d
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here