MUMBAI: Shubman Gill’s half-century helped India to dominate New Zealand at lunch in the ongoing third Test match in Mumbai at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
At Lunch on Day 2, India stood at 195/5 with Shubman Gill (70*) and Ravindra Jadeja (10*) unbeaten on the crease. The hosts still trail by 40 runs.
The second day of the Mumbai Test started with Gill and Rishabh Pant on the crease. The two Indians played attacking cricket even though the hosts already lost four wickets on the first day.
The India wicketkeeper-batter smashed three fours in the opening over of the second day against Kiwi spinner Ajaz Patel.
In the 27th over, Gill was lucky as Mark Chapman failed to grab the ball on the long-on. With luck helping the two Indian batters Gill and Pant were saved a couple of times from losing their wicket.
The duo of Gill-Pant cemented a partnership of 96 runs and helped India to make a comeback in the game.
In the 30th over, Gill slammed his seventh Test fifty after he sent the ball over the deep cover and took a single to complete his first fifty in the three-match Tests against the Kiwis. A few seconds later in the same over, Pant too completed his fifty in just 36 balls.
The partnership came to an end in the 38th over when Ish Sodhi removed Pant from the crease for 60 runs from 59 balls. It was a crucial wicket for the Kiwis as they dismissed the dangerous Pant.
In the first session on Day 02 of the Mumbai Test, India scored 109 runs. While New Zealand could manage to take just one wicket.
In the upcoming sessions of the second day, Jadeja and Gill will be looking forward to making a solid partnership and continue dominating over New Zealand.
Earlier on Day 01 of the Mumbai Test, New Zealand resumed the third and final session from 192/6, with Daryl Mitchell and Ish Sodhi unbeaten with scores of 53(96) and 1(7), respectively.
The Kiwis were bundled out at 235 in the 66th over of the day as Washington Sundar took the last wicket of Ajaz Patel who went back after scoring just seven runs for his side.
The pick of the bowlers for the Rohit Sharma-led side was Jadeja who snapped five wickets in his spell of 22 overs where he conceded 65 runs. This was his 14th five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game.
In reply of Blackcaps 235, openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal came out to bat for the hosts. Both batters together put on a partnership of 25 runs before the skipper was dismissed by Henry after scoring 18 runs with the help of three fours.
Jaiswal was sent back after playing an inning of 30 runs which included four boundaries in his innings on the bowling of Ajaz Patel.
The left-arm spinner took two wickets in two balls as he dismissed the nightwatchman Mohammed Siraj. Before the Stumps of Day 01, Virat Kohli was dismissed from the crease after a run out from Matt Henry. He could score only four runs from six balls.
India ended Day 01 at 86/4 with Pant and Gill unbeaten.
Brief Score: New Zealand 235 (Daryl Mitchell 82, Will Young 71, Ravindra Jadeja 5/65) vs India 195/5 (Shubman Gill 70*, Rishabh Pant 60, Ajaz Patel 2/76). (ANI)