While the fans of Team India were quite pleased with the ageless performance of Ravindra Jadeja, it was the spinner’s signature no-look run out that left the likes of William O’Rourke as the last wicket in a team score of 255 runs for New Zealand in a match played in Pune on Saturday.
Battling through the end, Glenn Phillips scored a solo 48* runs helping NZ make a lead of more than 350 runs.
But, the wickets continued to fall in the other end, and eventually New Zealand were all out for 255 runs, thus setting a target of 359 runs for India to win.
Knowing the importance of the day, India as all acquainted with the situation turned to Ravindra Jadeja for a dramatic shift through his spin, and thankfully, it worked.
The Indian veteran spinner left no stone unturned as he demolished the NZ lower order claiming three wickets and within 90 minutes of the first session of Day 3, India wrapped up the visitors.
Following turns at both ends, the finale had him at his best, the last ball of NZ’s innings, a single met with a call of two, heralded an all too familiar trouble for the touring side.
When Glenn Phillips turned one towards the off for what appeared to be a simple single, the last second looked to be the deciding factor and he was adamant about getting a second.
Will O’Rourke, the number eleven batsman, was slow to take off and not alert enough on the run which resulted in a very accurate throw by Washington Sundar, landing in the hands of Jadeja who nonchalantly (and quite surprisingly as well) took aim and hit the stumps, removing O’Rourke in the process.
This simply made the fans go gaga over the web as most fans saw a resemblance between the run-out with that of Captain Cool MS Dhoni and how they both did it.
It was necessary for India, having got their thumbs out and kicked the Kiwis out, to come out blazing right from the word go to send out a message.
That is all that happened as the likes of Yashashvi Jasiwal, and Shubman Gill equally raised the tempo, scoring 81 runs on the board in just 12 overs, after dangerman Rohit Sharma was lost early.
With the shift of momentum, the pendulum has swung once again, this time having embraced India, as the home team is looking to post a historic comeback, and level the score in the series.
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