WTC final: India take 32-run lead against New Zealand

Given the favourable weather predictions for the reserve day, this could boil down to a one-day style face-off if India declare at the right time and allow their bowlers enough overs to go full tilt at the Kiwis

The first World Test Championship final is poised for a gripping finish with India dismissing New Zealand for 249 before taking a slender lead in the second innings on the fifth day at Southampton. Given the favourable weather predictions for the reserve day, this could boil down to a one-day style face-off if India declare at the right time and allow their bowlers enough overs to go full tilt at the Kiwis.

India's captain Virat Kohli, left, and Mohammed Shami, second left, celebrate with teammates the dismissal of New Zealand's Colin de Grandhomme during the fifth day of the World Test Championship final. (AP)

Runs continue to come at a price on a difficult pitch where only one batsman has been able to cross fifty but the stakes are such that both teams will be inspired to adopt a more swashbuckling approach. India though were again forced to resort to a measured start after losing openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to Tim Southee’s devious in-swing and close out a day that started with New Zealand scoring just 34 runs in the first session.

Most of the early grind had to do with Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma finally zeroing on a teasing length that had New Zealand’s batsmen in two minds. No one toiled as much as Kane Williamson, who scored just 15 off the first 100 balls he faced—his slowest till date—but no one could have anchored the innings better as well. It was fitting that New Zealand took the lead through Williamson, with a crunching square cut off Shami in the 93rd over, before Southee’s 46-ball 30 provided for a very effective final flourish that added 114 runs in 27 overs since lunch.

New Zealand’s overall run rate before that was 1.87, courtesy a gruelling first hour when they added only 16 runs to the overnight score of 101/2.

The day finally started to move once Gill lunged to his right to brilliantly hold on to Ross Taylor’s drive at short cover. Quick to follow were the wickets of Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling, the former lured into edging Ishant Sharma to Rohit at second slip while Watling was done in by a ripper from Shami, the ball seaming away from his bat just enough to take the top of off-stump.

Pitching the ball further up seemed to do the trick. All three deliveries were on the fuller side of good length, measuring 5.98m, 6.58m and 6.56m, according to CricViz. Shami was his old self, adjusting his average length to 6.94m from 7.48m from Day 3 but equally persevering was Ishant, inducing several play-and-misses with his fuller lengths, just like New Zealand had done on Day 3.

The momentum was slightly lost towards the middle of the post-lunch session but not a moment was wasted in taking the second new ball once it was available. India thrust Shami into the forefront in the hope of quick wickets but Williamson slashed him past point for a boundary first over. Shami hit back quickly though, going wide of the crease to strike Colin de Grandhomme plumb leg-before.

Kyle Jamieson’s 21-run cameo threatened to run away with the game but Shami dared to bounce him again after being deposited over long-on for a six, extracting a top-edge that Jasprit Bumrah caught at long-leg. Williamson’s dismissal—Ishant getting the ball to move away from short of length and take an edge to second slip—didn’t have the desired effect India were seeking as New Zealand continued to score freely through Southee, stretching their lead to a sizeable 32. Shami was given an extended spell to complete a deserved five-wicket haul but the final blows were dealt by Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Adding further momentum to New Zealand’s cause was the early dismissal of Gill. Here too, Southee was the orchestrator, setting up Gill with a few outswingers before sneaking in one, making him shuffle and play all over it. India’s scoring rate took an expected beating after that. Knowing Cheteshwar Pujara’s vulnerability against in-swing (he averages 24.76 as opposed to 46.42 against out-swing in the last three years), New Zealand bowled straighter lines at him while pitching it wider to Rohit. Pujara, however, was quite up to the task, covering the lines adequately and even scoring a boundary off Trent Boult with a crisp on-drive.

It took India 16 overs to take the lead as New Zealand quickly deployed Jamieson who swung the ball both ways, forcing the batsmen to play with more caution. Boundaries, as a result, were few and far between, piling the pressure on Rohit who had started on a promising note with two fours off Boult before retreating into a shell. Sensing Rohit’s hesitation at taking on the attack, Williamson quickly brought in Southee and got a breakthrough four balls later. It was the dreaded inswinger again that worked for Southee as Rohit erroneously offered no shot to the ball that came in to hit him on the back leg. That brought Kohli out in the last hour of the day’s play but with the New Zealand seamers on top of their game, this was déjà vu for the India captain.