Mumbai. With the brilliant innings of Shubman Gill (90), Rishabh Pant (60) and Washington Sundar (38 not out), India scored 263 runs in the first innings and took a lead of 28 runs on the second day of the third and final Test of the series on Saturday. New Zealand had scored 235 runs in the first innings. On another hot and humid day at the Wankhede Stadium, Pant and Gill batted brilliantly beyond the conditions as they batted with controlled aggression early on the first day, facing the New Zealand spinners and taking two catches dropped by the fielders. Took advantage of. Pant, who had started the day with one run, was out after scoring 60 runs per ball.
Thus India suffered a 10-minute setback on the evening of the first day, when it lost three wickets in seven balls and was reduced to 86/4. Gill and Pant stitched a 96-run partnership for the fifth wicket to help India dominate the morning session on day two as the hosts struggled to avoid a 0-3 series whitewash. Pant showed aggressive behavior and attacked Ajaz Patel in the first over itself, hitting lofted shots over the bowler’s head on the first two balls of the morning. By hitting another four in the over, he proved that the Indian batsmen will not let the New Zealand bowlers settle down.
There were a few edges here and there but Pant and Shubman Gill made it clear that they were not going to miss anything that was not perfect. Pant used his legs, reverse sweep and hit shots at will, hitting fours and sixes off successive deliveries from Patel – a reverse sweep to the boundary and then a charged-out drive lofted over the stadium roof above the sightscreen. . The Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman scored the fastest half-century by an Indian in a Test against New Zealand, reaching the milestone in just 36 balls. Pant improved the record of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a half-century off 44 balls in the last Test in Pune.
Gill, who had started on 31, got a big reprieve when substitute fielder Mark Chapman dropped a skier at long-on. Gill slipped a bit while trying to reach the pitch of the ball, followed up with the shot and skied. Chapman easily reached the ball, but the ball went through his hands, hit his chest and fell to the ground. Gill took full advantage of this gift of life and completed his half-century in 66 balls. He added fifty runs in 56 balls for the fifth wicket with Pant. The left- and right-handed pair of Pant and Gill troubled New Zealand and India dominated the first hour. Pant also got a lease of life when Matt Henry dropped an easy call at long-on off Glenn Phillips.
New Zealand’s fielding was poor on the second day and Pant and Gill benefited from it. After finishing the boundary for some time, leg spinner Ish Sodhi achieved the much-needed breakthrough for New Zealand and broke the partnership by sending Pant back to the pavilion. After hitting a boundary off Sodhi’s ball at short-cover and a wrong-un pitch beyond mid-off, Pant missed the leg break, which hit the pads. The batsman hoped to overturn the decision by using DRS, but replays showed that the ball did not hit the bat and was hitting the leg stump. DRS declared it an “umpire’s call” and Pant had to walk off the field after scoring 60 runs off 59 balls with the help of eight fours and two big sixes.
Gill left the anchor as lunch approached, avoiding misunderstandings, and went to lunch with Ravindra Jadeja, who was sent in to maintain the right-left hand combination ahead of Sarfaraz Khan, who scored on the second day. Helped India a lot. Jadeja was out after lunch after scoring 14 runs. Sarfaraz Khan came but without opening the account he became the victim of Ejaz Patel. Sundar gave India a significant lead by playing an unbeaten inning of 38 runs with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes in 52 balls. Ashwin was out after scoring 6 runs, while Akashdeep, who came to bat with Virat Kohli’s bat, was run out on zero. For New Zealand, Ajaz Patel took 5 wickets for 103 runs.