3rd Test: India batters collapse as New Zealand take control over hosts on Stumps at Day 1

The Indian batters collapsed on the first day of the third and final Test match at the Wankhade Stadium on Friday after brilliant performance from spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar. At Stumps on Day 1, India are 86/4 with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant unbeaten on the crease. The hosts still trail by 149 runs. The third and final session of Day 1 of Mumbai Test resumed New Zealand's innings from 192/6, with Daryl Mitchell and Ish Sodhi unbeaten with scores of 53(96) and 1(7), respectively.

Sodhi was the first one to fell in this session when the team score was 210. His wicket was taken by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Following Sodhi's departure, Matt Henry came out to bat in the middle along with Mitchell. At the score of 210, the visitors lost another wicket as Henry was sent back to the pavillion without opening his accont as he was cleaned up Jadeja.

The Tom Latham-led side lost their ninth wicket at the score of 228 as Mitchell was sent back to the dressing room after playing a magnificent knock of 82 runs which was laced with three fours and sixes each in his innings. 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. Four wickets were bagged by Sundar in his 18.4 overs where he gave away 81 runs in his spell. One wicket was taken by right-arm seamer Akash Deep in the five overs he bowled in the innings.

In reply of Blackcaps 235, Openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal came out to bat for the hosts. Both bbatters together put on a partnership of 25 runs before the skipper was dismissed by Henry after scoring 18 runs with the helpof three fours.

The right-hand batter, Shubman Gill came to bat along with Jaiswal. Team India completed the 50-run mark on the first ball of the 14th over as Gill slammed a boundary on the bowling of Ajaz Patel. In the 17th over, Jaiswal and Gill completed their 50-run partnership as Gill took a single on the bowling of right-arm off spinner Glenn Phillips. In the next over, 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. In the second session of the third and final Test, Will Young and Mitchell continued to trouble India with a barrage of sweep and reverse sweep shots. The session continued to pass on, with the hosts once again looking out of their wits and New Zealand looking to take a shot at the 300-run mark.

Going down on one knee, sweeping or using the reverse variation of the shot to find the boundary rope was a constant theme throughout the second session. With hopes slowly fading away at Wankhede, Jadeja came in to change the course of the opening day by dwelling on his experience. The 45th over turned out to be the one where India got their reward for the patience that they had exhibited throughout the gruelling 87-run partnership.

On the second ball of the over, New Zealand's resistance finally gave away when Jadeja spun the ball away from Young to force out a healthy edge. India skipper Rohit Sharma made no mistake at the slip, which brought an end to Young's solid 71(138).

The puff of dust that arose whenever the ball landed on the pitch was an indicator of things beginning to change. Two balls later, Tom Blundell was left clueless in front of a ripper from Jadeja. A flat trajectory and a puff of dust, when the ball landed, was enough to leave Blundell bamboozled and hit the off-stump with a remarkable turn.

Mitchell continued to lead the charge from the other end and went on to raise his bat for 50. Jadeja continued to haunt New Zealand by toying with their expectations of dealing with the spinning deliveries. Glenn Phillips leaned forward to defend the delivery, but the ball kept skidding rapidly. Despite Phillips going forward to negate the threat, the ball found enough space to slip past and crash into the stumps.

The second session ended slightly in India's favour and perfectly set the final phase of the opening day. Earlier on Day 1, after electing to bat first, New Zealand got off to a poor start as pacer Akash Deep trapped Devon Conway leg-before-wicket for four runs in 11 balls. NZ was 15/1 in 3.2 overs. Skipper Tom Latham and Will Young took the Kiwis forward.A fine sweep shot against Washington Sundar by Latham helped the Kiwis reach the 50-run mark in 13.4 overs.

The partnership between Latham and Young came to an end, with Sundar cleaning up Latham's off-stump for 28 in 44 balls with three fours. NZ was 59/2 in 16 overs. The off-stump of Rachin Ravindra took the beating as Sundar got his second wicket, dismissing the in-form batter for just five runs. NZ was 72/3 in 20 overs. Young was joined by Daryl Mitchell, and they took NZ through the remainder of the session without any loss of wickets.

Brief Score: New Zealand 235 all out (Daryl Mitchell 82, Will Young 71, Ravindra Jadeja 5/65) vs India 86/4 (Shubman Gill 31*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 30, Ajaz ). (ANI)