Whenever India play a Test match at home, the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin play a crucial role in determining the result thof the match. If they both strike together, more often than not India emerge as the winner. If India go on to win the third India vs New Zealand Test, Jadeja and Ashwin will be credited a lot. In the first innings, Jadeja took five wickets while he has taken four in the second essay. Ashwin has so far taken three wickets in the second innings.
On the second day, an interesting thing happened regarding change of bowling ends. In the final session, Ashwin went up to India skipper Rohit Sharma to suggest Jadeja be bowled from the other end. Sharma did not accept the request initially but then Jadeja was brought in from the other end and he took the wickets of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell. This was the same end from which the left-arm spinner took a fifer in the first innings.
Murali Kartik and Simon Doull, who were doing commentary, talked about it on air.
“In between overs, Ashwin went up to Rohit, asking his captain to change the end Ravindra Jadeja is bowling from. Rohit immediately quashed it,” said Murali Kartik.
“Jadeja is getting decent purchase from the end he is bowling from,” he added.
However, the ends were changed a little later and Jadeja scalped Mitchell and Blundell.
Meanwhile, though his team was just 143 runs ahead with only one wicket in hand at the end of day two, New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel said they still have a chance of winning the third Test against India if they manage to score a few more runs and put the home batters in pressure in the fourth innings as the pitch is offering turn and variable bounce from both ends.
Patel, who claimed 5-103 to help his team bowl out India for 263 in the first innings after Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant had hammered 96 runs in quick time in the morning, restricting their lead to just 28 runs, was at the crease batting on seven New Zealand were reduced to 171/9 in their second innings.
“It’s going to have to be whatever we score. We’re going to have to try and do our best to restrict India and try and bowl them out, but it’ll be interesting to see how the wicket continues to play tomorrow as well.
“The morning sessions have been a bit different to the afternoon sessions, so if the wicket continues to play like that, if we bowl well and do our best, I think we might have a decent chance,” said Patel at the end of the second day’s play on Saturday.
With IANS inputs
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