Kanpur, Nov 29th : , India took three crucial wickets in Kanpur.These wickets were taken on the first and last balls respectively of the second session.
This leaves the final session of the ongoing Test against New Zealand very tense.New Zealand is at 125/4 in 63.1 runs.India needs six wickets to lead the series 1-0. India took a wicket on the very first ball after lunch.William Somerville attempted to pull a short ball off Umesh Yadav but it fell to Shubman Gill who ran in from fine-leg to complete a spectacular forward diving catch.
Yadav continued to cause problems for Latham and Kane Williamson by delivering a lot of deliveries that were low and directed towards the stumps.The duo put on a strong performance, hitting the occasional boundary.
Latham scored his second half-century with three runs in the middle of the match.
Four overs later, Latham tried to push through the off-side and cut off Ashwin’s stumps.
Ashwin was also dismissed, surpassing Harbhajan’Singh’s 417 wickets and becoming the third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.
Ross Taylor nearly lost his nerve on Ashwin’s zero as there was no evidence to prove otherwise.
Jadeja took him to the wicket and ended his anxious wait at the crease.
In a wicketless first session, Latham & William Somerville showed great determination to keep India at bay.They scored 75 runs in just 31 overs.They were solid in defense, even though Ashwin often troubled them; while Yadav was pushing boundaries.
Latham was the first one to drive off Yadav’s boundary, while Somerville drove straight.Somerville then made delightful back-foot drives on consecutive Yadav through-side deliveries and was fortunate to get a boundary from the outer edge of Ishant Sharma.
India seemed a little frustrated at not being able to get their first wicket of day.India was so desperate to get a wicket that they took a review of a Latham lbw despite the impact outside of the off-stump.This review was a waste as New Zealand survived the remainder of the session unscathed.
Brief scores: India 345 runs and 234/7d against New Zealand 266, and 125/4 in 63.1 Overs (Tom Latham 52 and William Somerville 36; Ravichandran Ashwin 228; Ravindra Jadeja 1/11) need 159 runs to win.
nr/bsk #Test #India #final #tantalizingly #Cricket #BCCI #ICC #IPL
.
