New Zealand, propelled by a career-best seven-wicket performance from left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and a half-century by captain Tom Latham, established a commanding 301-run lead over India on day two of the second Test in Pune on Friday.
Santner's 7/53 from 19.3 overs demolished India, limiting them to 156 and giving New Zealand a 103-run first-innings advantage after the visitors made 259 on the first day.
Latham then anchored the second innings with a well-played 86, forming crucial partnerships with Will Young (23) and Tom Blundell (30 not out) to lead New Zealand to 198/5 in 53 overs.
Earlier in the day, India's batting struggled, falling to 107/7 before lunch after starting well with Shubman Gill (30) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (30) adding 49 for the second wicket.
On a low and turning wicket, India's batters struggled with application and sound judgment, making fundamental errors that left them facing a daunting task to reduce the deficit and stay in the game.
Starting the day at 16/1, India lost six wickets for just 91 runs in the morning session. The most shocking moment came in the 24th over when Virat Kohli misjudged a full toss from Mitchell Santner (4/36) and was bowled for a nine-ball 1.
The sight of Kohli’s bat awkwardly missing the full toss as it crashed into his stumps, leaving him staring down in dismay, will be remembered for a while.
Yashasvi Jaiswal remained composed, reaching 30 with four boundaries, but a defensive shot to a delivery spinning away resulted in a first-slip catch by Glenn Phillips.
Then, misreading the lack of bounce, Rishabh Pant (18) attempted a massive heave against Phillips’ part-time spin, but was bowled out, leaving India at 83/5.
Sarfaraz Khan (11), who had scored 222* in the Irani Cup and 150 in his previous game in Bengaluru, was dismissed cheaply after a sloppy shot straight to mid-off, giving William O'Rourke an easy catch off Santner.
Santner, who began the collapse by trapping Gill (30) leg-before for the opening wicket of the day, continued to chip away and trapped R Ashwin (4) leg-before at the stroke of lunch.
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