India v New Zealand, 1st Test, Kanpur: All smiles in milestone Test

KANPUR: For Divyansh Tiwary and Rishi Mishra, it was going to be a day to remember. The Class 8 students of Chhatra Public School in Kanpur appeared excited as they queued up outside the Green Park along with their schoolmates ahead of the final day's play in the first Test. TOI caught up with the kids as they approached the entry gate. "Kya India match jeetega (Will India win the Test)?" "Jeetega sir (They will win)," both of them said in unison."By what time?" "Lunch tak kaam ho jaayega sir (It will be done by lunch)," Divyansh was confident.
Well, India made him wait just a little bit longer. At 12.53 pm, 43 minutes after play resumed post lunch, R Ashwin trapped Neil Wagner leg-before - his 10th victim of the match and also the 10th leg-before dismissal for India in this Test - to give the hosts a resounding 197-run win in their 500th Test match. The victory completed a 'hat-trick' of sorts for the hosts, who had failed to win their 100th and 200th Tests but had come out victorious in the 300th and 400th matches.
The result was only expected as Indian needed only six wickets on the final day on a track which was offering enough turn and bounce for Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to cast their spell. New Zealand began the day at 93/4, chasing what was a nearly-impossible target of 434. Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner did an encore of their first innings heroics to make sure the visitors were not disgraced in defeat. Their 102-run partnership for the fifth wicket kept the Indians on their toes.
The result, though, was hardly ever in doubt. Once Ronchi (80; 120 balls, 9x4, 1x6) left after an injudicious hoick off Jadeja, the innings folded up quickly for 236. It was a win which would have pleased the Indian team management as well as discerning fans.
The Green Park pitch was not the dust bowl where spinchallenged teams are packed off in three days. It was a traditional Indian track, slow and sometimes low. It demanded respect from the batsmen while rewarding skill and application. There was spin in it but not every ball turned. The batters had time to respond because of the slowness of the pitch.
Ashwin and Jadeja were expected to complete the demolition job and they did the bulk of bowling on Monday. It was Ashwin who, yet again, provided the edge despite nursing a callus in the middle finger of his bowling hand. He finished with six wickets in the innings, including the wicket of the obdurate Mitchell Santner. Jadeja's metronomic accuracy kept the pressure on even though saving runs was never the priority for India on this day.
Their figures made for interesting reading: Ashwin 35.3-5132-6 and Jadeja 34-17-58-1. Ash win kept exploring variations in line, length and spin in a search for wickets, which gave opportunities to the batsmen to free their arms. Jadeja was on the coin all the time, bowling his typical stumps-centric line and keeping the batsmen circumspect and quiet. The crucial difference was that Ashwin ended up taking all those wickets.
All through the Test, India's decision to play two pacers on this track was being questioned as Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav struggled to make any impact in the limited opportunities they had got. Thankfully for the team management, Shami snapped up two off two to hasten the end of the Kiwi essay and put the debate on the backburner.
India now lead the three-Test series 1-0 and it will take a mammoth effort from the Kiwis to make a comeback. India have most of the flanks covered.