A splendid six-wicket effort from premier strike bowler Ravichandran Ashwin saw India maintain their vice-like grip on New Zealand and remain firmly on course for a 3-0 series whitewash at the end of third day’s play in the final Test in Indore on Monday.
Riding on Ashwin’s brilliant figures of 6/81, India bowled out New Zealand for 299, thereby taking a healthy first-innings lead of 258 runs.
Virat Kohli, however, did not enforce the follow-on and India were 18 for no loss at stumps increasing their overall lead to 276 runs.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir was retired hurt on six after sustaining a shoulder injury going for a second run. At stumps, Cheteshwar Pujara (1) and M Vijay (11) were at the crease for the home team.
The day belonged to Ashwin, who used the bowlers’ rough brilliantly by operating from the pavilion end to get his 20th five-wicket haul in his 39th Test.
The off-spinner, who grabbed 10 wickets in the series opener at Kanpur and four in the second match at Kolkata, also ran out two batsmen off his own bowling.
His spin partner Ravindra Jadeja accounted for the other two wickets in the visitors’ innings.
With two days left in the game, India, who won the first two Tests by huge margins, looked well-poised to score another victory for a clean sweep of the series.
