The pick of the bowlers was pacer Mohammad Shami who took four wickets in his spell and veteran bowler Ishant Sharma got three.
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The Day 5 of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) ended with India having a 32-run lead over New Zealand. The score currently stands at 64-2 with skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle. Kohli has made 8 runs and Pujara is at 12. This is possibly the best Test cricket batting pair of India at the moment and they will be hoping to add some big runs to their names. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made 30 and 8 respectively. For New Zealand, pacer Tim Southee was the one who bagged both wickets. Despite this being Day 5, the match will continue for at least one more day, as it has been harshly affected by rain and bad light through its runtime so far.
As the Indian batting lineup fell cheaply after their openers handed them a solid start in the first-innings, many fans expected New Zealand to grab a healthy lead and gain the advantage in the final of the ICC World Test Championship final. In a match that has been marred by rain and bad lighting, there has not been much for fans to look forward to so far. New Zealand were the clear favorites after a disastrous batting collapse by India’s middle-order in their first innings. The Kiwis started in a similar fashion, with their top-order batters setting a strong foundation for the rest. However, just like India, the New Zealand batting order also failed to capitalize and fell quite cheaply.
The Kiwis could only manage a total of 249 runs. They had a lead of just 32 runs. It was a highly disappointing performance for the Black Caps considering that the conditions were much suited to their style of play rather than the Indians. Openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway constructed a healthy opening partnership of 70 runs. Latham was then dismissed for 30 runs off 104 balls. He was followed by skipper Kane Williamson who also played a big part in propelling the Kiwis close to 250.
Conway and Williamson made a 31-run partnership for the second wicket. Conway was dismissed after scoring a brilliant half-century. He made 54 runs off 153 deliveries. Skipper Williamson also seemed set to reach the 50-run mark but was dismissed on 49 runs.
Veteran Ross Taylor could only score 11 runs. Henry Nicholls and wicket-keeper BJ Watling came next. The two could only score 7 and 1 run respectively. There was a bit of fightback from the lower-order as the tailenders scored a few important runs to put New Zealand in the lead.
Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, and Tim Southee scored 13, 21, and 30 runs respectively. They were followed by Neil Wagner who was dismissed for a duck and Trent Boult who made 7 runs. It was the efforts of these batters, especially Southee, that ultimately allowed New Zealand to take the lead, albeit a small one.
The Indian bowlers stole the show on Day 5 as they quite unexpectedly made the most of the foreign conditions. After the conclusion of Day 4, it seemed like the bowlers would have an incredibly difficult time performing well. However, the bowlers proved their critics wrong and delivered.
The pick of the bowlers was pacer Mohammad Shami who took four wickets in his spell. Veteran bowler Ishant Sharma also had a breath-taking performance as he bagged three wickets. The wicket might have been more favorable to pace but spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra had some joy as they picked 2 and 1 wicket respectively. It was a rather disappointing outing for Jasprit Bumrah as he failed to bag a single wicket.
