India vs New Zealand 2024/25, IND vs NZ 3rd Test Match Report, November 01 – 05, 2024

Lunch New Zealand 92 for 3 (Young 38*, Mitchell 11*, Washington 2-26) vs India

Missing Jasprit Bumrah because of a viral illness, India began with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep. There wasn’t much seam movement on offer, but enough signs of uneven bounce. Akash Deep was accurate and testing with his angle from around the wicket, catching Conway back to a full ball and trapping him lbw with some seam movement.

However, scoring seemed easy for Tom Latham and Will Young as the two ended their spells. The second spinner introduced, Washington produced two beauties to get rid of Latham and Rachin Ravindra. It was particularly vexing for Latham, who was hit on then pad by one that didn’t turn followed by another with identical seam-orientation and trajectory that turned past the outside edge and took top of off. Ravindra was still new to the wicket when Washington turned one past his outside edge to bowl him for a third time in the series.

Now there was more turn and more natural variation visible. Young and Daryl Mitchell negotiated the last half hour, but both their edges were threatened regularly during their partnership of 20 in seven overs.