Ashwin leaves New Zealand facing uphill task

New Zealand 262 and 93 for 4 (Ronchi 38*, Ashwin 3-68) need another 341 runs to beat India 318 and 377 for 5 dec (Pujara 78, Vijay 76, Rohit 68*, Jadeja 50*, Santner 2-79)Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

R Ashwin put India firmly on the path to winning the Kanpur Test, grabbing three wickets in a 13-over new-ball spell that blew an early hole through New Zealand’s hopes of saving it. In the process, he also became the second-quickest bowler to 200 Test wickets in the history of the game.

Tea was taken as soon as India declared their second innings at 377 for 5, leaving New Zealand the task of surviving four sessions or chasing down 434. A New Zealand win was probably out of the question, and the likelihood of a draw plummeted when Ashwin took out both their openers in the fourth over of their innings. By stumps, they had lost two more wickets, those of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, their most experienced batsmen.

Batting against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a fourth-day pitch was always going to be difficult for New Zealand. A couple of avoidable dismissals made their job even harder. Martin Guptill gave India their first breakthrough with an ill-advised slog-sweep out of the rough. He inside-edged into his front pad, and popped up a catch to silly point.

With New Zealand already three down, Taylor was run out going to the non-striker’s end, by a direct hit from Umesh Yadav at deep midwicket. Having already given the throw half a chance by watching the fielder rather than putting his head down and haring as fast as possible, he made the worst possible error as he crossed the crease, getting his bat past the line but failing to ground it.

The other two wickets, though, were all about Ashwin’s skill, …

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