Kolkata: Riding on the 103-run seventh wicket partnership between Rohit Sharma (82) and Wriddhiman Saha (58), India finished at 263 runs in their second innings on Day 4 to give a 376-run winning target to New Zealand in the second Test match being played at Eden gardens, here on Monday.
India had earlier bowled out New Zealand for 204 to take a 112-run lead in the first innings.
Earlier on Day 3, Rohit impressed all with his sixth half-century and second of the series. He was involved in two valuable paertneships -- 48 with Virat Kohli for the fifth wicket and 103 runs with Wriddhiman Saha for the seventh wicket, as India recovered from a precarious situation (43 for four) to end the day at 227 for eight in its second innings.
On Day 2, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had bowled a fantastic spell, claiming five wickets that put New Zealand on back-foot on the second day of the second Test that had left the visitors tottering at 128 for 7 on the rain-hit day.
Bhuvneshwar’s (5-33) was his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests, from 10 overs. The Kiwis faced 34 overs in all today after a rain played a spoilsport in the final session.
Included in place of Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar removed stand-in skipper Ross Taylor (36) in his first over after play was resumed following a two and half hours delay. Thereafter, he took two wickets in two balls by removing Mitchell Santner (11) and Matt Henry (0) off successive balls.
Mohammed Shami (3/70), too, bowled with pace and bounce to tighten the noose at the other end.
Earlier, Cheteshwar Pujara (87), Ajinkya Rahane (77) and Wriddhiman Saha (54 not out) rescued India from a precarious situation and helped the hosts finish at 316 all in their first innings of the second Test match being played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan failed justify his inclusion, as the southpaw could make only I run in the 10 balls that he faced. Murali Vijay too could not last long as departed in the 12th over for 9 runs and skipper Virat Kohli (9) too was back into the pavilion by the end of 22nd over with India reeling at 46 for 3.
Thereafter, Pujara was joined in by Rahane and the duo went on to add 141 runs for the fourth wicket before Pujara was caught by Martin Guptill off Neil Wagner at short cover in the 70th over. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma again failed to impress as the ‘talented’ batsman could add just 2 runs to India’s score as Rohit was caught by Tom Lotham off Jeetan Patel on the first ball of 74th over. Sharma was undone by a turning delivery from Patel with had a bit of bounce as well.
Rahane was the next to go in the 78th over as he was hit on pads in front of the wickets by a flatter delivery from Patel. Thereafter, Ravichandran Ashwin added some quick runs with Wridhiman Saha before being trapped by Matt Henry in his attempt to drive towards mid-on. India made 239 for 7 at the end of first day’s play.
Resuming the play on Saturday, Ravindra Jadeja added 42 runs with Saha for the eighth wicket before falling to Wagner for 14. Buvneshwar Kumar too could not last long at India lost their ninth wicket as Kumar was trapped Mitchell Santer for 5 runs.
However, Saha found an able partner in Mohammed Shami as when it seemed India would fold in within 300, the duo added 35 runs to take India to 316 before Shami was caught at the long leg boundary by Henry off Trent Boult. India’s innings folded at a respectable 316 with Saha contributing an unbeaten 54.