India suffer early blow after Sundar stifles NZ

PTI Pune: All-rounder Washington Sundar justified his selection with a career-best 7/59 to help India bowl out New Zealand for 259, but the hosts lost skipper Rohit Sharma early in their first innings when stumps were drawn on day of the second Test, here on Thursday. India crawled to 16 for one in 11 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal (6 not out) and Shubman Gill (10 not out) at the crease, trailing by another 243 runs in the first innings. Tim Southee cleaned up Rohit for a nine-ball duck, forcing the hosts to be extra cautious with the debacle of first innings in the Bengaluru Test still fresh in the mind.

Rohit, who was cleaned up for the third time in the series and for the second time by Southee, was squared up as he looked to defend in the line of the delivery but the ball moved away to beat his outside edge and crash into the off-stump. Southee thus became the first among fast bowlers to take a wicket in this Test after a dominating show by the Indian spin duo of Sundar and R Ashwin (3/64), who did not allow New Zealand to break free. The 25-year-old Sundar, playing his first Test for India since March, 2021, ran through New Zealand after Ashwin claimed the first three wickets in the innings to move past his Australian peer Nathan Lyon in the list of highest wicket-takers in Tests. Ashwin began by trapping New Zealand captain Tom Latham (15) in front of the wickets and getting Will Young (18) caught behind in the first session, while Sundar took the centrestage towards the end of the second. While he was measly to begin with as New Zealand batters looked to consolidate, Sundar reaped rich dividends for his perseverance. He swung the momentum in India's favour with two late wickets in the second session, including the in-form Rachin Ravindra, as New Zealand stumbled to 201/5 at tea.

Ravindra's dismissal close to the tea break proved instrumental as New Zealand could never recover from the blow and folded in the final session without much resistance. The young batter looked primed for another big knock but Sundar's brilliance stopped him in his tracks. Of his seven dismissals in an outstanding spell on a day one wicket, Sundar showed mastery in hitting the off-stump to snare five of his victims bowled, one pinned in front of the wickets while the other caught by fellow tweaker Ashwin. Among those who were cleaned up by the Indian spinner were Ravindra, Tom Blundell (3), Mitchell Santner (33), Tim Southee (5) and Ajaz Patel (4). The highlight was the manner in which he cleaned up the in-form Ravindra, who looked good after his efforts of 134 and 39 not out in New Zealand's eight-wicket win in the opening Test. Sundar pitched the ball just perfectly to have it darting away from Ravindra's bat and crash into the off-stump, beating the batter fair and square who had otherwise struck a perfect balance in attack and defence. Conway managed 76 from 141 balls with 11 fours but he was among Ashwin's three wickets at the top.

The Kiwis' opener used his reverse sweeps against the spinners and drives down the wicket against the Indian pacers to good effect to accumulate his runs, but he had only himself to blame for missing out on scoring a century again. On an innocuous delivery outside off, Conway went for a stroke but got an edge to be caught behind off Ashwin. New Zealand's woes compounded when off-colour batters in skipper Latham and Mitchell continued to struggle for runs despite spending considerable time in the middle.