Pune: Ravichandran Ashwin took his third wicket of the innings while Washington Sundar picked two scalps in the last three overs of an engrossing second session as New Zealand reached 201/5 in 62 overs at tea on day one of the second Test against India at the MCA Stadium here on Thursday.
Resuming from 92/2 in the post-lunch session, Devon Conway started with a cracking cover drive off Jasprit Bumrah to get his fifty. He then capitalised on width from Bumrah’s deliveries by punching off the backfoot and opening the face of the bat late to get back-to-back boundaries.
From the other end, Rachin Ravindra began to find his groove by using Bumrah’s pace to run through the gap between slip and gully for four. Conway continued to be impressive with his drive and reverse sweeps, before poking at a short on a spinning away ball from Ashwin, with the edge caught by Rishabh Pant.
Ravindra took over the run-scoring mantle by lofting Ravindra Jadeja for six, before beautifully flicking Akash Deep for four more. After getting his fifty with a stylish flick going through the hands of short mid-wicket for four, Ravindra had two more boundaries coming off Akash via cut and outside edge.
The 59-run stand for the fourth wicket between Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell was brought to a halt by Washington, who turned the tide for India at the fag end of the second session with his dip and drift. Washington got a tossed-up delivery to turn away sharply from the middle stump and hit the top of the off-stump.
On outclassing Ravindra with a peach of a delivery, Washington leapt highly in the air. At the stroke of tea, Washington again brought joy to himself and the Indian team by getting a length ball to grip and turn sharply into Tom Blundell, who aimed for a flick but was castled through the gate. Big wickets from Washington in the last 10 minutes of the second session mean India have set themselves a chance to bowl out New Zealand in the final period of the day.
Brief scores: New Zealand 201/5 in 62 overs (Devon Conway 76, Rachin Ravindra 66; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-48, Washington Sundar 2-34) against India.
(IANS)
