India and New Zealand. (Source – Getty Images)
The dead rubber third Test of the series between India and New Zealand swung every way whatsoever, at the iconic Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. Notably, the hosts clashed against the BlackCaps on Friday, November 1.
Both Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner were dropped by their respective teams owing to viral fever and side strain, respectively. Bumrah’s replacement Akash Deep struck early, but Will Young (71 off 138) kept the innings steady despite losing partners in quick succession. Daryl Mitchell (82 off 129) then joined Young in stitching a vital 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket. However, once Ravindra Jadeja (5/61) dismissed Young, New Zealand fell like a deck of cards.
Mitchell’s best efforts went in vain, as New Zealand lost their last seven wickets for just 76 runs and finished with 235 runs on the board. Washington Sundar (4/81) joined Jadeja in doing the damage.
Team India lost their Captain Rohit Sharma early in their reply, but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill kept the ship afloat and it looked like the pair would carry India to stumps. In the penultimate over of the day, Jaiswal missed a reverse sweep and lost his stumps to Ajaz Patel. While nightwatchman Mohammed Siraj was trapped plumb in front on the next ball.
Virat Kohli was run out with three balls to go to stumps. Consequently, India found themselves from a steady 78/1, slumping to 84/4 in the space of just nine balls. Eventually, Rishabh Pant joined Shubman Gill as the hosts added another two runs to their score at stumps on Day 1.
Meanwhile, check out the important stats highlights of the day here:
5 – Ravindra Jadeja became India’s 5th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 314 wickets. He crossed Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, both of whom have 311 wickets.
6 – Ravindra Jadeja took his 14th fifer in Test cricket to be on the joint 6th spot on the list of most Test fifers for India. His 14 puts him level with Bishan Singh Bedi.
4 – Ravindra Jadeja became the person with the fourth most Test fifers in India. This was Jadeja’s 12th fifer in India in Tests, he also broke the tie he had with Kapil Dev who had 11 fifers in Tests in India.
5 – Sixes conceded by Washington Sundar in the innings. For matches where data is available, this is the joint highest number of sixes that an Indian bowler has conceded in an innings in Tests at home alongside 5 such previous instances. The last instance was in the first Test of the ongoing series when Ravichandran Ashwin conceded 5 sixes in New Zealand’s first innings in Bengaluru.
31.62 – Rohit Sharma’s batting average as Captain in Tests at home. Among all Indian captains who have made a minimum of 500 runs at home, only Sourav Ganguly averages lower.
3 – Virat Kohli became the 8th player overall and the 3rd Indian player to bat in 600 innings in international cricket.
2 – Kohli became the second player to bat in 600 innings in international cricket for India. Rahul Dravid batted in 605 innings in international cricket, but only 599 of them were for India.
27,133 – The number of runs amassed by Virat Kohli after 600 innings in international cricket is comfortably the most by a batter after 600 innings. The next best is by Sachin Tendulkar who had 26,020 runs after 600 international innings. Kohli’s 80 centuries are also the most.