Ashwin finished with figures of 6-132 off 35.3 overs
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin stole the spotlight once again as he claimed a six-wicket haul in his side’s 197-run win over New Zealand on the fifth day of the first Test in Kanpur.
India’s victory was their 12th consecutive Test without a defeat on home soil and their third-largest against New Zealand in the longest format, with the other two being a 272-run victory in Auckland in March 1968 and a 212-run win in Chennai in December 1976.
Starting off the day on 93/4, Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner converted their 37-run partnership into a 102-run stand, during which Ronchi surpassed his fifty, before he was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja for 80 off 120 balls, which included nine boundaries and a six.
Shortly after, the Black Caps were dealt two quick blows as Mohammad Shami trapped wicketkeeper BJ Watling lbw on the last ball of his sixth over before striking again on the first ball of his seventh over as he clean bowled Mark Craig for one run. Shami, though, was unable to complete his hat-trick.
With New Zealand reeling, Ashwin took out their last form of resistance in Santner, who ended up making 71 off 179 balls, which included seven boundaries and two sixes.
Santner (left) and Ronchi (right) put up a valiant fight
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Santner made history with his knock as he became the first New Zealand player since Daniel Vettori in 2011 to score 100 runs and take at least five wickets in a Test match.
Once Santner was gone, New Zealand were unable to hold out for much longer as Ashwin took out Ish Sodhi for 17 and Neil Wagner for a duck to wrap up India’s victory.
Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with six wickets, while Shami snapped up two and Jadeja claimed one.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was disappointed to have lost, and said: “There were a lot of positives throughout the match, hopefully a few lessons as well. India outplayed us though and if we look back there was a two session period where the game slipped away from us. It would have been nice to get closer to the first innings total, and to start off restricting India to 300 on a good batting wicket was good work.
[Ronchi and Santner] were both fantastic, particularly today with the ball spinning sharply. The way Santner applied himself with bat and ball and the way Ronchi played coming back into the team was fantastic. It’s about recovery for us [in the break, fitness wise].”
India skipper Virat Kohli was delighted to have won in India’s 500th Test, and said: “Definitely, the boys applied themselves very well. Few moments we were in a spot of bother. Intitially we had momentum, 100 partnership, couple of soft dismissals. Then Jadeja, Ashwin and Umesh got us 30-40 extra runs. Makes a psychological difference.
“Still pretty early in captaincy, I look for advice from people around me, In the past we’ve attacked and runs have leaked. But when wickets don’t fall we need to be more patient, cut the runs down, use in-out fields. Lower down the order, its the most important thing in Test cricket, all the good sides around the world have that. That’s one area we are working very hard. Everyone wants to contribute. Ashwin, Saha, Mishra as well. That’s a big psychological dent on the opposition, they think then can get us down before 300 but we get 330.
“It’s a memorable Test, it’s been a very good Test, from the second day onwards when New Zealand were batting really well me and Ashwin were chatting how we had to show good resilience to win it.”