It was supposed to be quick work for India on the fifth morning. With the spinners running loops around the batsmen on a deteriorating pitch, New Zealand stood little chance in fighting the day out.
A lot of people here in Kanpur were already planning their day ahead expecting a quick finish. But then of course, just like India would have felt, it is never a wise decision to plan too far ahead.
New Zealand began their vigil at 93 for 4 on an overcast morning with Luke Ronchi on 38 and Mitchell Santner on 8. Yesterday Shane Jurgensen, their bowling coach, had mentioned that they would keep fighting, with a smile. There was no surprise as to who began as favourites on the last day. Anything less than an India win from then on will be seen as an upset and that’s exactly what New Zealand were trying to do. You’ve got to do all that you can to make an opposition earn a win in a Test match and it was superbly demonstrated by Santner, with initial support from Ronchi.
With only six wickets in hand they could have been hoping for some divine intervention in the form of rain. As we’ve seen here before, a sharp spell of rain could end play for a session or more. If that happens, India and particularly their spinners will lose faith in karma. But none of that was needed as the duo put on a 102-run stand that saw the Indian captain grow increasingly frustrated.
Just half an hour into the session came the news of Mark Craig being ruled out of the Test series. Jeetan Patel was named as his replacement. It wasn’t yet known if Craig could bat that day but the way Santner and Ronchi were going, it seemed like it would be better for the visitors if the situation never arose. Ronchi got to a well-fought fifty and forced Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli to change around the field quite a bit. He was making them think after the first few overs and was looking more comfortable in rotating the strike around with firm punches down to long-off or dabs square off the wicket off the back-foot. Santner was continuing to play rearguard, happy and content with watching the ball and defending.
And as the session wore on, with chances not going to hand, India were getting increasingly frustrated. Ashwin (who has a corn on his spinning finger) sent down a couple of short balls quite uncharacteristically. It forced Kohli to give him a break sooner than he would have wanted to but bringing in Umesh Yadav did little to contain run flow. Ronchi kept chipping him over mid-on or on the onside for boundaries as Kohli grew angrier. Every now and then though despite the boundaries there would be one that ripped past the bat, keeping the spinners’ hopes alive. But Ronchi and Santner now were confident enough to take on the spinners on a regular basis. The former in particular was looking to create damage with his firm punches down the wicket. Increasingly the punches replaced the defence. A lot more positive intent was being shown but that was soon to bring about his downfall as well.
Soon after the drinks break Ronchi looked to deposit Jadeja over the mid-wicket fence but got a leading edge to point. The end of the 102-run stand also saw Kohli bringing back Ashwin immediately. Santner was happy to sweep him against the spin. In Watling, Santner had a man capable of matching Ronchi’s gusto. The duo added 46 before a phase of play that saw India come back strongly.
But it was not through spin as everyone was expecting to happen. Instead we saw Mohammed Shami coming into the limelight with his reverse swing. The ball, that had been changed during the drinks break, was swaying a lot more than the New Zealand batsmen were anticipating. Watling had his bat nowhere close to the ball when he was struck in front of the leg stump. A marginal call went in Shami’s favour. Soon after that, he broke through the defence of Craig with a sharp full one from round the wicket. New Zealand went into Lunch at 205 for 7 with the impressively patient Santner on 57 off 160 balls.
Five overs after the break though, it was Ashwin who once again produced a snorter that got rid of Santner. A ball pitching well outside leg on a fullish length, reared up with a fizz that squared Santner up, forcing him to edge to gully. The end of his defiant 71 was also the end of New Zealand’s fight. Ashwin soon knocked Sodhi’s leg stump out with a clever variant of the drifter to get his 19th five-wicket haul in Tests. He would soon make it six by trapping Neil Wagner in front to pick up his fifth ten-wicket haul in Tests. India registered a 197-run win in front of a buoyant crowd, creating a welcome start to a long stretch of home games. New Zealand had fought hard on the last day but as was evident, the fight could have earned them more dividends had it come earlier in the game.
Brief scores:
India 318 (Murali Vijay 65, Cheteshwar Pujara 62; Trent Boult 3-67) & 377/5 decl. (Cheteshwar Pujara 78, Murali Vijay 76; Mitchell Santner 2-79)
New Zealand 262 (Kane Williamson 75, Tom Latham 58; Ravindra Jadeja 5-73) & 236 (Luke Ronchi 80, Mitchell Santner 71; Ravichandran Ashwin 6/132) by 197 runs.
