Ravindra Jadeja (3-53) struck thrice in the post-lunch session to ensure that India had a marginal advantage on the first day of the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. The left-arm spinner picked up the big scalp of Will Young (71) who looked set for a ton before nipping out Tom Blundell for a duck and Glenn Phillips for 17. Daryl Mitchell (53*) has battled it out there but now has only the tail for company on a surface that’s started to increasingly aid the spinners.
Young and Mitchell went through the first hour without much trouble even as the odd ball played tricks from the spinners. Both played with soft hands and used their feet well apart from bringing out the sweeps to good effect. But as the session went on, there was noticeable turn and bounce which Jadeja exploited brilliantly. He deceived the well-set Young with a lovely delivery that drifted in and spun sharply with bounce to find the outside edge. In the same over, Blundell was sent packing as he played back to a delivery that pitched on leg stump and disturbed the off bail with sharp turn.
Also Read: Hylo Open Badminton: Rakshitha Upsets 2nd Seed; Enters QFs
Phillips rode his luck and hung in for a bit with Mitchell but the former was derailed by the signature Jadeja arm-ball that skid through to breach leg stump. This scalp was a historic one for the left-arm spinner as he broke into the top-five for most Test wickets by an Indian, overtaking Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma who had 311 wickets to their name. With the surface starting to misbehave considerably for the spinners, New Zealand would hope to stretch their total as much as possible as batting could get tougher in the coming days.
