SOUTHAMPTON, June 20:
India’s batting superstars struggled to decode the “big riddle” called Kyle Jamieson while the bowlers found new batting sensation Devon Conway a difficult customer as New Zealand finished the third day of the World Test Championship final in a strong position.
Jamieson’s second five-wicket haul against India in three Tests had Virat Kohli’s men all out for 217 in overcast conditions.
In reply, New Zealand were 101 for two at stumps as Conway (54 off 152 balls) scored his third successive Test half-century before flicking one off Ishant Sharma to Mohammed Shami before the close of play.
Jamieson decimated India with marvellous figures of 22-12-31-5 with generous help from the relentless Neil Wagner (15-5-40-2) and the crafty duo of Tim Southee (22-6-64-1) and Trent Boult (21.1-4-47-2).
Head coach Ravi Shastri won’t be one bit amused but the sequence of scores of Indian batting against New Zealand’s seam attack in last five innings has been less than 250 –165, 191, 242, 124 and now 217.
It was 6 feet 8 inch tall Jamieson, who after last year’s series in New Zealand, has once again turned into a nightmare for the Indian batsmen.
Having removed Rohit Sharma on Saturday morning, Jamieson was relentless with his length and the bounce did the rest with clever traps laid for skipper Kohli and the dangerous Rishabh Pant.
Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane walked into a nicely laid traps as India failed to reach 250, a good total in the prevailing conditions as per batting coach Vikram Rathour.
The overcast conditions made batting difficult and the likes of Jamieson, Boult and Wagner indulged in a ‘who blinks first’ game with the Indian batters and came out trumps with some incisive seam, swing and short pitched bowling.
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