India vs New Zealand 3rd Test: Hosts let go of advantage

Mumbai: Jerseys soaking and balls wetting; dripping through helmets and sliming up palms… sweat. It was everywhere, and with barely a breeze going across the Wankhede stadium, cricket was a clammy chore on Friday.  

For the first time since New Zealand arrived in India, they were exposed to a tropical sweat fest and struggled. 

Coming here after enjoying the home-like comfort of Bengaluru and the hot but hardly humid climes of Pune, New Zealand were tested. Ice packs were brought out, rehydration pills were consumed, and umbrellas and chairs were used during drink breaks. 

Even the Indians felt a bit tight in the diaphragm, but they didn’t let it get to them. The only thing that did was they constantly had to deal with the ball slipping out of their hands because of sweat.  

In these conditions, three of them stood out. New Zealand found their dehydrated saviours in Will Young and Daryl Mitchell. India found theirs in Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness and precision. 

While Young’s 71 and Mitchell’s 82 assisted the visitors in putting up a decent 235 all out in 65.4 overs on the opening day, Jadeja’s unchanged spell of 22 overs was a testament to his remarkable hardiness.

The left-arm spinner, who had looked out of sorts in the Tests prior, came into his own. Giving the ball the rip he hasn’t in a while, Jadeja picked up only his second five-fer this year. He finished with figures of 5 for 65 to put India in a good position, one which decreased in intensity once India slumped to 86 for 4 at stumps. India now trail by 149 runs.   

The Kiwis probably didn’t expect it to play out like this after winning a good toss. It was an easy decision for Tom Latham to make because teams have historically benefitted from batting first here. And, until Young and then Mitchell were around, New Zealand were benefitting. 

The Indians, now without Jasprit Bumrah since he was ruled out at the last moment due to an apparent 'viral illness', had done well with the ball, but this alliance was beginning to get under their skin. 

After Akash Deep’s Devon Conway strike in the fourth over, spin took over with R Ashwin and Washington Sundar in operation. 

Ashwin looked significantly better than he did in the last two Tests, but he didn’t have the rub of the green go his way. Washington, on the contrary, was able to extract enough turn to get rid of Latham and Rachin Ravindra with identical, magical, deliveries. 

Ashwin, thus, adopted a more defensive role, even if uncharacteristic, while Washington plugged away from the dressing room end. Once Ashwin got tired, Jadeja was brought on in the 23rd over. 

For a brief while, Jadeja did the role of keeping it tight, but once he saw the ball kick and turn from a spot he would consistently hit, he took over. 

It would be a while before his first victim - Young - despite bowling well, though. In this interim, Young and Mitchell had added 87 runs for the fourth wicket. Thereafter, Jadeja held court. 

Deceiving batters with his loop and natural variations off the surface, picked the next four wickets with New Zealand scoring 51 runs in this period. Still, with Mitchell around, New Zealand would have hoped to get to 250, a challenging first-innings score on this wicket. 

That resistance ended, courtesy Mitchell’s brain fade, when he guided a nothing delivery from Washington to Rohit Sharma at first slip. 

He got quite the ovation as he dragged his cramping body off and up the stairs. Jadeja, meanwhile, walked off with a pep in his step and a ball in his hand. Sweaty but happy. 

The same can't be said about Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, who walked off unbeaten after a series of silly errors from India's batters with ten or so minutes left in the day, none worse than the one a desperate-to-get-off-strike Virat Kohli committed under lights.