The third Test in the series between India’s and New Zealand was a dead rubber that went either way at Mumbai’s famous Wankhede Stadium. On Friday, November 1, the hosts and BlackCaps faced off.
Due to side strain and viral illness, respectively, Mitchell Santner and Jasprit Bumrah were dropped by their respective squads. Despite losing partners quickly, Will Young (71 off 138) held the innings together despite an early strike from Bumrah’s replacement, Akash Deep. Young then joined Daryl Mitchell (82 off 129) in a crucial 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket. But after Young was removed by Ravindra Jadeja (5/61) New Zealand collapsed like a deck of cards.
New Zealand concluded with 235 runs on the board after losing their final seven wickets for a mere 76 runs, despite Mitchell’s best efforts. Alongside Jadeja, Washington Sundar (4/81) caused the damage.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill kept the ship afloat after Team India lost captain Rohit Sharma early in their response, and it appeared as though they would lead India to victory. Ajaz Patel got his stumps from Jaiswal after he missed a reverse sweep in the penultimate over of the day. The next ball, however, saw Mohammed Siraj, the nightwatchman, stuck plumb in front.
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With three balls remaining to reach the stumps, Virat Kohli was run out. Consequently, India fell from a comfortable 78/1 to 84/4 in just nine balls. After a while, Rishabh Pant joined Shubman Gill, and the hosts reached stumps on Day 1 with two more runs.
Meanwhile, check out the important stats highlights of the day here:
5 – Ravindra Jadeja became India’s 5th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 314 wickets. He crossed Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, both of whom have 311 wickets.
6 – Ravindra Jadeja took his 14th fifer in Test cricket to be on the joint 6th spot on the list of most Test fifers for India. His 14 puts him level with Bishan Singh Bedi.
4 – Ravindra Jadeja became the person with the fourth most Test fifers in India. This was Jadeja’s 12th fifer in India in Tests, he also broke the tie he had with Kapil Dev who had 11 fifers in Tests in India.
5 – Sixes conceded by Washington Sundar in the innings. For matches where data is available, this is the joint highest number of sixes that an Indian bowler has conceded in an innings in Tests at home alongside 5 such previous instances. The last instance was in the first Test of the ongoing series when Ravichandran Ashwin conceded 5 sixes in New Zealand’s first innings in Bengaluru.
31.62 – Rohit Sharma’s batting average as Captain in Tests at home. Among all Indian captains who have made a minimum of 500 runs at home, only Sourav Ganguly averages lower.
3 – Virat Kohli became the 8th player overall and the 3rd Indian player to bat in 600 innings in international cricket.
2 – Kohli became the second player to bat in 600 innings in international cricket for India. Rahul Dravid batted in 605 innings in international cricket, but only 599 of them were for India.
27,133 – The number of runs amassed by Virat Kohli after 600 innings in international cricket is comfortably the most by a batter after 600 innings. The next best is by Sachin Tendulkar who had 26,020 runs after 600 international innings. Kohli’s 80 centuries are also the most.