Third Test: India is on its way to demonstrating all the different ways it can beat New Zealand

There isn’t much at stake now in the third Test between India and New Zealand, with the series already settled. More so after the Black Caps were batted out of the match by Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.

So day three in Indore was all about how India would go about their business. It was also about when New Zealand would finally make the stand they have been threatening to all through this series.

Guptill’s bad luck 

There is a reason the Kiwis have persisted with Martin Guptill at the top of the order. Simply said, he doesn’t muck around. When he gets going, he looks to attack the bowling, especially spinners. And on Indian pitches, a quick fifty or a hundred from an opener can help reduce the deficit very quickly.

The only problem – and that’s been a big one – has been his form. He had failed to cross the 50-mark in his past eight innings, last doing so against Zimbabwe in August, when he scored 87 runs. Yet, he was persisted with for the aforementioned reasons.

Truth said, he has endured some bad luck in this series. He got bowled shouldering arms, as the ball ricocheted onto the stumps off his elbow. He has also hit the ball into his boot and then seen it lob up to a fielder to be out caught. These instances have curtailed his walk back into form in Kolkata and Kanpur.

In his ninth innings since that knock against lowly Zimbabwe, Guptill finally managed a half-century and got his team off to a fine start with Tom Latham. Then he watched as R Ashwin scripted another collapse, but at least he held it off.

But Guptill had reason to curse his luck yet again. For he watched, hopelessly out of the crease, the ball deflected on to the stumps as Luke Ronchi hit a straight drive directly at the off-spinner. When you are out of form, you also find ways to be out of luck. It is tough to imagine what Guptill is wondering after his innings came to an abrupt end thanks to a that run-out. Atleast he scored 72 runs.

The Kumble effect on Ashwin

It is important to understand what this long home season means from a "spin" point of view. Ashwin, as a bowler, is at the top of his game and playing at home gives him – and his team – a vital advantage. He is already lethal in the form he is currently in, and doesn’t need made-to-order pitches like last season against South Africa.

Even on these fairly competitive wickets, New Zealand have found it difficult to handle him. And this is where the difference between him and Ravindra Jadeja emerges once again. The left-arm spinner is more effective on pitches offering turn and bounce, because his straight deliveries do all the damage. With Ashwin, it is different as he puts on his thinking cap.

The prime example is how he has been able to get ahead of Tom Latham in this series. The left-handed opener has altered his technique at different times to counter the LBW threat, and as such Ashwin bowled from a wide angle, giving the ball more drift. It worked in Kolkata, and it worked today in Indore against Ross Taylor as well.

Now, here is the underlying point. It isn’t he alone who worked this out.

“If somebody is batting well, he gives you different ideas about what fields you can have, how differently I can throw the ball wide into Tom Latham, for instance, at Eden Gardens. It was Anil Kumble’s idea in the tea break. He was the one who asked me to push the lines wider and see how it goes, and it worked. He’s also a person I can go to and talk to and take feedbacks,” said the off-spinner after taking his 20th five-wicket haul in 39 Tests.

It is a potent mix, the guile of Ashwin and the advice of Kumble, and it coincides with a dominant run of form the spinner is enjoying. England and Australia will be watching with great concern.

The follow-on that wasn’t

Virat Kohli has a habit of delaying the declaration when the opportunity arises. He likes to bat the opposition out of the game and give his bowlers the freedom to attack at will.

On day three though, he had the opportunity to break them out of this comfort zone. New Zealand surrendered a 258-run first innings lead. There were only six overs left in the day. And yet, the follow-on wasn’t enforced.

Ashwin explained that both spinners had bowled 30-and-odd overs each and were tired. Well, the pacers could have been deployed for those six overs and then the team would have returned on Tuesday rested up fully. There is also this school of thought that the pitch is still good for batting, and there is this small chance of New Zealand batting well in the second innings and putting India under pressure on day five.

Were the Indian bowlers so very tired after bowling only 81 overs in the day? Maybe. The second pointer is more worth pondering upon. Yes, the pitch is still decent enough. But to assume that the Kiwis will overturn a huge deficit, and then take a lead big enough to put the Indian batsmen on the ropes, is bewildering.

It's like say the Indian team management suspects New Zealand of pulling a Kolkata 2001, and is afraid to bat last on a crumbling pitch given its own frailties against spin.

Only Kohli knows, for he is paid to do this thankless job.