A dominating performance from New Zealand on Day 3 of the first Test in Wellington put India on the cusp of a disappointing loss as the visitors conceded a massive first-innings lead of 183 runs before struggling their way through to 137/4 in the second essay with the bat until stumps.
The play resumed with the Kiwis 216/5, only 51 runs ahead with the threat of the second new ball looming large over them. However, even though the hosts lost BJ Watling (14) and Tim Southee (6) very early, their tail waged big, with the likes of Colin de Grandhomme (44), Kyle Jamieson (44) and even No.11 Trent Boult (38) making all the crucial runs and taking the game away from the visitors, as the team finished with 348 runs, surpassing the poor Indian total of 165 by an intimidating margin.
Read Also: Jason Gillespie lauds Ishant Sharma after his five-fer in Wellington Test
Ishant Sharma looked the best of Indian pacers on the show as he eventually returned with figures of 5/68. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled as well as he could've in conditions offering him next to nothing from the deck, bagging figures of 3/99. Jasprit Bumrah (1/88) had a rare bad outing with the ball but the biggest disappointment was Mohammad Shami (1/91), whose struggles abroad in the first innings when the deck is playing at its truest are now a real cause of concern for Indian cricket.
In the second innings, like on Day 1, Prithvi Shaw (14) found life extremely difficult against the moving ball before he was relieved of his misery by Trent Boult (3/25). Shaw's fellow opener Mayank Agarwal, however, showed a lot of resolve and decent methods of survival despite his technical issues to score a fine half-century (58), which he, unfortunately, couldn't convert into something big, edging out on a ball down the leg from Tim Southee (1/41).
While Southee, De Grandhomme (0/25) and debutant Kyle Jamieson (0/28) kept the pressure on, it was Boult who was too hot to handle on the day as he also sent the visitors two best batsmen Virat Kohli (19) and Cheteshwar Pujara (11) back cheaply.
The hosts would've wanted to make further inroads but were denied thankfully by Ajinkya Rahane (22*) and Hanuma Vihari (11*), who now carry India's thin hopes of coming out unscathed from this Test on their shoulders in difficult conditions against a very strong bowling attack.
Brief scores:
India 165 & 137/4 (Mayank Agarwal 58; Trent Boult 3/25) trail New Zealand 348/10 (Kane Williamson 89; Ishant Sharma 5/68) by 46 runs until stumps on Day 3
