Ashwin, Jadeja reclaim India’s upper hand

Tea New Zealand 204 and 135 for 3 (Latham 74*, Ashwin 2-62) need another 241 runs to beat India 316 and 263 (Rohit 82, Saha 58*, Boult 3-38, Henry 3-59, Santner 3-60)Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

For the longest part of the afternoon session, New Zealand had seemed comfortable. Tom Latham made a polished half-century. The pitch had slowed down and batting had become markedly easier. But India had put a massive target in front of them – 376 – and with more than five sessions to get the 10 wickets they need for a series victory, all they had to do was be disciplined. You can count on R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to be quite a bit more than that.

There were only 80 runs in 36 overs after lunch with New Zealand’s concentration on batting time. Their best man to do so had taken ill in the lead-up to the game and so Latham took up the charge. He had made a slight adjustment to his technique, taking a shorter front stride so that he could be in a better position to play the ball that doesn’t turn. It paid off beautifully. He was unbeaten on 74.

India took their measures to combat this, with Ashwin bowling with two silly points, in an effort to catch the leading edge when the bat comes down across the ball and pushes out in front of the pad. The pitch, being …

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