MUMBAI: Ravindra Jadeja has his arms aloft, clapping at R Ashwin who had come back to his fielding position at mid-on. The off-spinner raises his hand to acknowledge as they get ready for the next ball. Ashwin, moments ago, had taken a crucial catch to provide India a much-needed breakthrough.
Daryl Mitchell, the thorn in India’s flesh from Friday, in the company of Will Young, was once again building a partnership. A stand Ashwin, Jadeja and Washington Sundar hadn’t been able to breach at the time. The duo had added 50 runs already and were looking good for many more. That is when Mitchell did what he has done so well at this stadium — jump out of the crease and loft spinners down the ground.
Except this time, he did not time Jadeja as well as he would have liked. Ashwin, running behind from mid-on, had his eyes on the ball all along, ran sideways towards long-on, trusted his hands to stretch before holding on to it while diving.
He got up before letting out primal a roar. He knew what it meant and how important the dismissal was. And so did the teammates who surrounded and embraced Ashwin immediately. It was perhaps the moment that the 19,000 fans would have taken home from the day’s play. Until Ashwin gave them another late in the evening.
Having gone wicketless in the first innings, Ashwin had come under the scanner despite bowling well. He did his job at one end, while Jadeja reaped rewards and took a fifer in the first innings. In the second, however, there was extra pressure. A bad show here would mean New Zealand could complete a clean sweep — they still can with the 143-run lead they have at the moment — and the onus was on the experienced duo to deliver. Rohit Sharma started with Washington Sundar but soon turned towards his most trusted spinner in Ashwin. The two Tamil Nadu offies bowled from either side — Ashwin from Tata End and Washington from Garware Pavilion End.
At this point, Ashwin had seen enough to know how the surface would behave from each end and what pace he should be bowling at. Washington removed Devon Conway first, and Ashwin followed up. He dipped the ball in front of Rachin Ravindra, who was charging at him and Rishabh Pant completed the stumping. Ashwin had a taken his first wicket in the match.
This is when Young and Mitchell joined hands and they continued to frustrate India. Rohit brought Jadeja from Garware Pavilion End when Ashwin seemed to have suggested using the left-armer from the end he was bowling. The duo continued to try everything they could but New Zealand but were not budging. Then the switch happened. Jadeja started from the Tata End and immediately he deceived Mitchell enough to induce the mis-hit. Ashwin did the rest to give the breakthrough.
From there on, things were happening on fast forward mode. In his next over, Jadeja cleaned up Tom Blundell with a quicker one. When Glenn Phillips went on the counterattack, Rohit brought on Ashwin from Garware Pavilion End. Phillips hit two sixes in the first three balls — both down the ground. Ashwin followed it up with a flat and quick delivery before turning to his variation. On the fourth ball of the 33rd over, Ashwin presented the delivery of the match by a mile. A sharp carrom ball that pitched on the leg stump, turned away from Phillips, and beat the outside edge before hitting the off-stump.
Phillips had no idea what hit him and neither did New Zealand. It was the kind of delivery that would be made into GIFs and played on a loop for eternity on social media. "That Ashwin carrom ball drifted in 0.75 degs and turned a WHOPPING 5.9 degs!!! Al at 88 kmph. Pitched at 3.56 m from the stumps, moved away 15 cm between pitching and hitting the stumps," Himanish Ganjoo, data analyst who worked with the Indian team between 2022-24, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Ashwin himself would explain about the delivery in a conversation with the broadcasters after the day's play: "The game itself is divided into two halves, the wicket is flatter from one end (Garware Pavilion End) and from the other end it's different. Batters also knew it, they wanted to take me on, so wanted to try something different."
After that Phillips' dismissal, things quickly spiralled for New Zealand with Ashwin and Jadeja being the chief architects. Ashwin would take one more (3/52) while Jadeja took 4/52, reducing New Zealand to 171/9. A lead of 143 is still not going to be easy for India to chase, but on a day when everything was at stake, Ashwin, along with Jadeja, ensured that Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant's rescue act was not in vain.