Wellington: After India ended day three at 144-5, Ravichandran Ashwin said on Sunday that New Zealand bowlers were incisive on the field and bowled lovely lengths.
“They are bowling lovely lengths and they have been incisive even in second innings when they know it’s not the same on the first day, “Ashwin said during a press conference at the end of day three.
Trent Boult took three wickets as New Zealand took charge of the match against India on day three of the ongoing first Test here at the Basin Reserve.
Ashwin said that BlackCaps bowled very well and made it tough for India to score runs on day 3.
“So I think they have made it really hard for us. They have bowled 65 overs, we will have to see how they wake up and we can bat another session in the morning,” he said
India trails by 39 runs and Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihariare are at the crease on 25* and 15*, respectively.
Team India did not perform well as Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli got out cheaply. Only Mayank Agarwal dominated Kiwis and smashed a half-century.
Ashwin said the Indian side will look to set small targets and will look to achieve them in every session.
“I think we are not yet in a stage of the game where from our perspective in the dressing room that we can look very far, we will have to take it per session per hour or however smaller targets we can set the better it is for us. They battled it very well so it’s about getting well in morning session also, since so much time is left in the game it’s very difficult to say what might happen or what we might foresee so it’s important to stay in the moment and continue the way they are batting. They are set in, they know what the wicket is like, we would like to cash in tomorrow morning, ” he added
Earlier, New Zealand started the day three at a bad note as the side lost BJ Watling (14) without adding a run to the overnight score of 216/5.
Tim Southee then joined Colin de Grandhomne and both took the side to 225. In the 75th over Mohammed Shami dismissed Southee (6). However, after that Kyle Jamieson and Grandhomne dominated Indian bowlers and stitched a partnership of 71 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed well-settled Jamieson and Grandhomne and reduced the side to 310-9. Grandhomne played a knock of 43 runs while Jamieson scored 44 runs off 45 balls.
Trent Boult played a vital knock of 38 runs at the lower order, taking the side to 348 in first innings.