Twitter Reactions: India only five wickets away from winning yet another Test series at home

New Zealand ended the day at 140/5 still needing a whopping 400 runs for an unlikely win.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara celebrating the fall of a wicket
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Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara celebrating the fall of a wicket. (Photo Source: Twitter/BCCI)

The inevitable is set to happen on the fourth morning of the second Test between India and New Zealand. Once they were bowled out for 62 in their first innings, the writing was on the wall for the Kiwis. India only strengthened their position on the third day and are comfortably marching towards yet another Test series victory at home. They need only five wickets to win the Mumbai Test and pocket crucial 12 points in World Test Championship.

The day began with Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara looking solid in the middle yet again. They stretched the opening partnership to 107 runs before Ajaz Patel picked his 11th consecutive wicket of the match. He dismissed Agarwal who had scored 62 by then backing up to his 150 in the first innings. At the other end, Pujara batted well too defending well against the turning ball.

But Ajaz breached that too for the second time in the match with India’s number three edging one to the slip. He scored 47 runs and also hit a six during his innings. This was followed by a brilliant 82-run partnership between skipper Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill. The duo looked assured in the middle and made sure the lead swelled past the 400-run mark.

India upped the ante in the post-lunch session with an eye on the declaration. They lost wickets in a hurry in the process, but the crowd was entertained to the hilt with as many as 11 sixes being hit in the innings. Gill scored 47 while Kohli mustered 36 runs before getting out, however, Axar Patel made sure the lead went past 500. He took the attack to New Zealand spinners hitting four sixes.

He remained unbeaten on 41 off 26 balls as the hosts declared at 276/7 in 70 overs setting a huge target of 540 runs for New Zealand.

Daryl Mitchell impresses but NZ lose five wickets

Last innings of a long tour normally isn’t great for a visiting team if things are not going right. The same happened with New Zealand as their batters looked to play their shots without showing better application like they did in Kanpur. Ravi Ashwin took full advantage of their approach dismissing Tom Latham, Will Young and Ross Taylor.

At 55/3, another quick end to the Kiwi innings looked possible only for Daryl Mitchell to save the blushes for his side. Henry Nicholls survived extremely close moments facing Ashwin but looked solid as he spent more time on the field. Mitchell got to his half-century but threw away his wicket while on 60 only around a half an hour before the end of day’s play.

Tom Blundell was then sold down the river by Nicholls for a six-ball duck. However, the latter made sure there were no more hiccups along with Rachin Ravindra. New Zealand ended the day at 140/5 still needing a whopping 400 runs for an unlikely win. The duo only delayed the inevitable and the Test match is set for an early Day 4 finish in Mumbai.

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