Jadeja, Ashwin put New Zealand under pressure

New Zealand 85 for 4 (Taylor 30*, Bhunvneshwar 2-20) trail India 316 (Pujara 87, Rahane 77, Saha 54*, Henry 3-46) by 231 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details

There really wasn’t much spin in this Eden Gardens pitch. But that did little to diminish the threat of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Coming on the back of the fast bowlers reducing New Zealand to 23 for 3, they created chances virtually every over. One deceived batsmen in the air, the other hustled them off the deck and the only relief for the batsmen was when rain stopped play with 40 minutes to go for tea. By then, New Zealand were four down and trailing India’s total of 316 by 231 runs.

Ashwin gives the ball a good rip. That means not only does he get sharp turn into the right-hander, he can drift the ball away from his outside edge and make it dip too. Luke Ronchi found that out when he lunged on the front foot, playing the angle but was made to poke away from his body as the ball moved in the air. Ross Taylor thought he had a half-volley he could flick but ended up almost spooning a catch to the bowler.

Jadeja gives the ball a good rip too. But he doesn’t flight it often. He makes the batsman feel claustrophobic with his stump-to-stump line and essentially lack of turn. Taylor is good on the cut. He can get them away even when the ball cramps him. But against Jadeja the shot was not a good option. So he just had to defend, which brought lbw into play.

Jadeja had Ronchi plumb in front in his second over of the day, but umpire Rod Tucker disagreed. Soon enough though the batsman came forward to a ball on middle stump, looking for the ball to spin away. It didn’t. This time Tucker upheld Jadeja’s …

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