NEW DELHI: Spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha shared five wickets to put India on top against New Zealand on the second day of the first Test in Hyderabad on Friday.
New Zealand were 106 for 5 in their first innings at stumps on Day 2. James Franklin (31*) and Kruger van Wyk (0*) were on the crease with Kiwis still trailing by 332 runs.India were bowled out for 438 in 134.3 overs by New Zealand in their first essay. Cheteshwar Pujara slammed 159 while skipper MS Dhoni contributed 73 to take India’s total past 400.Spinner Pragyan Ojha struck towards the closing stages of the game to dismiss Kane Williamson as New Zealand lost half of their side inside 100 runs on the second day of the of first Test.Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets in the final session of Day 2 to put India on top against New Zealand. Ashwin took his third wicket when he caught Daniel Flynn leg before for 16 runs.Flynn was looking dangerous as he tried to sweep Ashwin from off stump. The ball failed to spin as much as he thought and caught the Kiwi plump before the wicket.Earlier, Ashwin scalped two wickets of Martin Guptill (2) and Ross Taylor (2).Taylor tried to tuck away the ball to the leg-side, which Virat Kohli caught at backward short leg. An appeal was made and third umpire ruled in the favour of the bowler.Ashwin also dismissed in-form batsman Martin Guptill, when the offie tossed the ball on middle and leg and Guptill misjudged it and edged the ball to Kohli at backward short leg.Dhoni gave the ball to Pragyan Ojha to counter Brandan McCullum’s aggression early on in the innings. It proved fruitful when Ojha flighted the ball outside the off-stump, forcing the batsman to play a forceful shot.McCullum failed to clear the covers and hit the ball flat to Kohli in the covers.During the Indian innings, Jeetan Patel took four wickets as New Zealand bowled out India for 438 runs in their first innings.India lost their last wicket when Umesh Yadav was run out for 4.Cheteshwar Pujara top scored for India with a magnificent 159.Patel took his fourth wicket when he had R Ashwin stumped by wicket-keeper Kruger van Wyk.Ashwin hit 5 fours in his 54-ball 37 before falling to Patel.Patel collected his third wicket when he dismissed Indian skipper MS Dhoni.Patel tossed up the ball outside off stump, inviting a big shot. Dhoni, looking to slam it over the mid-off, ended up hitting it flat to Doug Bracewell at mid-off.Dhoni was batting at 73 and his dismissal placed India at 412/7.This was after Patel gave New Zealand the much-needed breakthrough when he had Cheteshwar Pujara caught by James Franlkin at mid-on just after lunch.Patel drew Pujara out of the crease with a flighted delivery and Pujara tried to hit the ball over long-on, mistimed the shot and Franklin took an easy catch at mid-on.Pujara hit a six and 19 fours in his 159-run knock.Dhoni hit his 25th half-century and Pujara reached his maiden 150 as India crossed the 350-run mark with ease.The start of play on the second day was delayed due to wet outfield and overcast conditions.Intriguingly, the ground-staff, taking precautions, put the covers on in anticipation of rain.But the anticipated rain did not arrive and the groundsmen slowly removed the covers.On Day 1, Pujara scored his maiden Test century to place India at 307/5.TNN