Pune: India have been set a target of 359 runs to win the second Test after bowling out New Zealand 255 in 69.4 overs of their second innings in first hour of day three’s play at the MCA Stadium on Saturday.
Resuming with a lead of 301 runs, New Zealand added 57 runs before seeing their innings come to a swift end. Ravindra Jadeja, who didn’t pick any wickets on two days, got three wickets in quick time before Ravichandran Ashwin took another scalp and a run-out meant India did its job well of ending New Zealand’s innings.
The big challenge for India will now be to chase down 359, as the only instance of them chasing down a steeper target to win a Test at home was 387 against England at Chennai in 2008.
Day three’s morning session began with Glenn Phillips taking three boundaries off Ashwin, before Jadeja finally got his first scalp of the match by getting a straight ball to sneak through the gate of Tom Blundell and castle him for 41.
Jadeja then had Mitchell Santner holing out to long-on, before Ashwin had Tim Southee edging to slip. Shortly after, Ajaz Patel holed out in the deep to become Jadeja’s third scalp and despite two sixes from Phillips, William O’Rourke got a little complacent while completing the second run and Jadeja quickly dislodged the bails to catch him short of crease at the bowler’s end to bring New Zealand’s innings to a close.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 259 and 255 in 69.4 overs (Tom Latham 86, Glenn Phillips 48 not out; Washington Sundar 4-56, Ravindra Jadeja 3-72) lead India 156 in 45.3 overs by 358 runs
–IANS