Trent Boult claimed two big wickets before stumps. Photo / Photosport
Trent Boult claimed two big wickets before stumps. Photo / Photosport
Midway through day two of their second test against the Black Caps, and India had finally found a reason to smile. In fact, they were shushing the crowd, and roaring with delight - their bowlers had just sparked a superb turnaround to stunningly put the visitors in command at Hagley Oval.
Walking off at stumps, however, and that smile had turned to shock, as it was the Black Caps who were over the moon – their bowlers had just eviscerated the Indian top order, leaving them on the brink of a famous series sweep.
At 153-7 in response to India's 242, the Black Caps looked like they had completely wasted an impressive day one display, but a batting fightback saw them reach 235, before a devastating bowling effort left India in dire straits at stumps; clinging to life at 90-6.
On a day where 16 wickets fell, it could be Trent Boult's whose scalps were the most crucial, skittling the stumps of Cheteshwar Pujara and nightwatchman Umesh Yadav with glorious inswingers late in the day, to make India's already-unsteady chances even bleaker.
Hanuma Vihari (five) and Rishabh Pant (one) will resume tomorrow with a 97-run lead, hoping that this test has one more wild swing left in it, but their final-session capitulation has left a Black Caps victory – within three days – looking a rather likely proposition.
Which is absurd, quite frankly, considering their grim outlook just hours before.
On a surprisingly lively wicket, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were almost unplayable at times as they ripped through the Black Caps batsmen. Resuming at 63-0, opener Tom Blundell fell quickly, before skipper Kane Williamson mustered only three before being caught behind, flummoxed by a Bumrah delivery.
Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after dismissing Kane Williamson. Photo / Getty
He wasn't the only one. At times it seemed the batsmen couldn't predict the seam movement – saved on several occasions by the notable bounce in the wicket – while Shami in particular was getting absurd seam movement past the bat, to the point where wicketkeeper Pant leaked 20 byes as the ball went swerving off into the slips cordon.
Tom Latham was the only man to reach 50, but he was also fooled by Shami's seam. The opener left a ball which pegged back and sent his bails flying, and with Ross Taylor having previously been lured into an ill-advised shot by Ravindra Jadeja, the Black Caps' middle order collapsed from the relative safety of 109-2. Henry Nicholls (now 11 test innings without a 50) and BJ Watling (eight innings) made 14 and zero respectively as their poor form continued, and when Bumrah produced a double-wicket maiden, the Black Caps were still 89 runs behind India, with just Neil Wagner and Boult left in the pavilion.
However, they still had the man of the hour, week, and month, Kyle Jamieson, who again showed his all-round potential with a fine innings. After Colin de Grandhomme (26) departed following a brief partnership, Jamieson added 51 for the ninth wicket with Wagner, playing some excellent shots as the Black Caps closed in on India's total.
They were denied by one of the greatest test catches, with Jadeja taking a one-handed leaping effort running backwards at square leg to deny Wagner a boundary and dismiss him for a handy 21, and Pant's diving effort to remove Jamieson – one run shy of a maiden 50 – was also impressive as India took a seven-run lead into their second innings.
An unexpected buffer maybe, but it turned out to be a largely irrelevant one, after the Black Caps seamers had their say, in sensational style. First, Boult trapped Mayank Agarwal lbw in the second over, before Southee removed fellow opener Prithvi Shaw with a well-directed short ball which was fended into the slips.
Colin de Grandhomme celebrates the wicket of Virat Kohli. Photo / Photosport
When Virat Kohli's tour of toil ended, trapped lbw by de Grandhomme for 14, India were right back into the trouble they thought they had avoided, and a truly bizarre Ajinkya Rahane knock didn't help matters, as he swung chaotically at Wagner's bouncers before being eventually bowled by his nemesis for nine.
India still had Pujara at the crease though, and a chance to consolidate, perhaps heading into tomorrow with six wickets in hand, a lead near 100, and a middle-order capable of setting the Black Caps a tricky fourth-innings target.
That was until Boult ended a staggeringly action-packed day with the finish it deserved – a finish that has set the Black Caps up for another brilliant test victory.
