India beat New Zealand by 197 runs in Kanpur Test, leads series by 1-0
September 26, 2016 11:28
In the historic 500th cricket Test match, India recorded a 197-run win vs New Zealand in Kanpur and took a lead of 1-0 in the three-match series. Ravindra Jadeja is the Man of the Match.
Ravichandran Ashwin claimed six wickets in the second innings. Mitchell Santner (71) and Luke Ronchi (80) put up brief resistance on Day 5 but Ashwin and Mohammed Shami's heroics were enough for India to canter home.
"Before the series started I was thinking that I should play my role as a batsman as well. Duleep Trophy helped me a lot because I was getting wickets there as well. It gave me confidence as well. The ball wasn't turning from the stump line in the first innings, so we were trying to mix the pace. Obviously Ashwin is a very good bowler on slow turning wickets and I would like to congratulate him for 200 wickets. I enjoy bowling with him," Jadeja said.
"The boys applied themselves really well. Initially we had the momentum with the bat, but a couple of soft dismissals put pressure. Jadeja and Ashwin added crucial runs. I am still pretty early in my captaincy career, I look forward to advice from others. There have been cases where we've gone on one mode and the runs were leaked. All the sides that are doing well around the world have strong lower-middle orders. That's one area that we have improved and we need to keep working it because those 30-40 extra runs could prove crucial," Virat Kohli said.
India set a rather improbable target of 434 to Kiwis. Beginning the day at a precarious 93 for four, overnight New Zealand batsmen Luke Ronchi (80) and Mitchell Santner (71) frustrated the Indian bowlers for only about 20 overs by adding 65 runs in the morning session but that only delayed the inevitable.
Williamson said that, "India outplayed us with bat and ball. Restricting India to 300 odd on a good batting surface was a good effort, but at the end of the day India were certainly the better team. The way Santner applied himself with both bat and ball was impressive and the way Luke Ronchi came back into the side was good to see. We look forward to another challenge in Kolkata."
Both the teams will now travel to Kolkata, where the second Test is scheduled to begin from Friday.
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- Nandini