Daijiworld Media Network
Kanpur, Sep 26 : Puffs of dust to bully. Turn and bounce to petrify. And homebred spinners to parade their skills, ball after ball. It's the fifth day of a Test in India, it's on a Kanpur dustbowl, and it seems only a matter of time before New Zealand yield. This isn't just another day of a Test that will surrender to the extremities of a Monday; instead, this day will set the wheels rolling for the next 12 Tests India play at home this season. Ashwin's 200th wicket yesterday saw Williamson pinned in front, thus realistically ruling out a draw, if there ever can be one on this pitch. Ronchi and Santner then put on a rearguard, will attempt one again today, but the early morning freshness in the pitch looks set to prove to be quite a hurdle. Unless something truly stunning awaits us, India should be 1-0 up by the end of play today.
Good work by this pair to see New Zealand to stumps, but geez, they are right up against the 8-ball. Three full sessions tomorrow, weather permitting, and that should be more than enough time for the hosts to do the job. Having declared with a lead of 433, powered by brisk fifties from Rohit and Jadeja, India found early joy courtesy Ashwin. Ravichandran Ashwin, well, what can you say about him? In a three-wicket burst which crushed the Kiwi top-order, he became the second fastest bowler ever to 200 Test wickets, also the fastest Indian. Quite remarkable stat that. Just frightening as to what all he can achieve in the future.
As if to commemorate the landmark, it was Williamson who was his victim. Taylor hung in there, painfully, and then gifted his wicket away to an unpardonable run-out. Since then, the duo of Santner and Ronchi have replicated their first innings resistance commendably. But they'll need more than just guts to have a chance tomorrow.
Our statsman Deepu Narayanan was busy digging out these numbers.
R Ashwin - Home | Away:
Tests: 20 | 17
Overs: 1021.0 | 694.1
Wkts: 133 | 67
Avg: 21.03 | 33.23
SR: 46.0 | 62.1
5-fers: 13 | 5
10-fers: 3 | 1
Best: 7/66 | 7/83
Fewest Tests to 200 wickets: 36 C Grimmett, 37 R ASHWIN *, 38 D Lillee/ Waqar Younis, 39 Dale Steyn, 41 I Botham/ S MacGill
Fewest Tests to 200 wickets for India: 37 R ASHWIN *, 46 Harbhajan, 47 Anil Kumble, 48 BS Chandrasekhar, 50 Kapil Dev, 51 Bishan Bedi, 54 J Srinath
'I mean it's not like I knew it before, I saw it on the screen [if he knew who's the fastest to 200 wickets] . I will say the last 80-100 wickets have been good. Ever since I came back from Australia and then went to Bangladesh, I started planning my dismissals, setting batsmen up. Been a wonderful journey, I hope it keeps going on for some time. Being challenged by the opposition is good: Williamson batted very well. Taylor was getting outside the line, challenging me. Not every ball is turning; you cannot blast batsmen off on this wicket, you have to be patient. I don't think it's the right time to look back at what I have done.
I have some distance to go. I hope I can look back at it some day and talk about it in a comm box. I have already told that as a cricketer, it's hard to think about 12 matches in front of you. You don't know how many paces you go back when you take Test cricket for granted, so you have to go one day at a time and see where you go. Once you are sitting outside, it's about preparing for one game at a time as far as I am concerned,' says Ravichandran Ashwin who became the second-fastest ever to 200 Test wickets.