By: Sandipan Bose
India are really taking giant steps towards winning the 1st Test against New Zealand in Kanpur. Indian spin duo, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, was again at it in the second essay of the match.
In terms of taking wickets, Ashwin was slightly ahead of Jadeja. But in terms of impact, it was Jadeja who created all the pressure by bowling dot balls from the other end.
It reminded us about the Pakistani fast bowling due of Wasim Akram and Aaquib Javed in the late eighties and early nineties. Their combination worked wonders for Pakistan especially, against an opposition like India. Right now, it’s India which is benefiting from this age-old mechanism.
At one stage Jadeja had bowled eight maiden overs from his 10-over spell. This was the same thing the Saurashtra left-armer was doing during the Duleep Trophy. He kept rushing through his overs by bowling wicket-to-wicket.
Cheteshwar Pujara, meanwhile, was again brilliant along with the opener Murali Vijay. Both laid down a solid foundation for their team and it was later seconded by a strong performance by Rohit Sharma in the second innings.
The best part of Day 4 was the emergence of Jadeja. He is right now batting quite fearlessly and would be a huge asset for his team in the days to come.
