Straight balls baffle battling Black Caps

Despite the amount of turn on offer, it was a lack of it Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja emphasised after New Zealand’s dramatic collapse on the third morning of the first test in Kanpur.

The left-arm orthodox was the chief destroyer as the Black Caps lost nine wickets for 103 runs to be all out for 262 and hand the hosts a 56-run first innings lead at Green Park Stadium.

At lunch on the fourth day yesterday, India were 252-4, a lead of 308, with New Zealand set to face a daunting run chase in testing conditions in the final innings of the match.

Jadeja collected 5-73, including a triple-wicket maiden, while rightarm spinner Ravi Ashwin took four wickets to emphatically turn the tables after New Zealand had won four of the first five sessions.

Jadeja said he and Ashwin simply tried to stick to a good line and length, tie the batsmen down and let the pitch do the rest.

‘‘Our plan was to first get the two batsmen who were batting, because it was not going to be easy for a new man coming in,’’ Jadeja said.

‘‘Some balls were turning and some were going straight on this pitch.

‘‘There was some rough ... [Indian coach] Kumble was telling me to bowl from an angle and a bit wide of the crease.

‘‘He told me to target putting as many balls as possible in that rough because from there, some balls were turning and some were going straight. That would have created doubts in the batsmen’s minds.’’

That much it certainly did, with lbw the mode of dismissal in five of the nine wickets taken by spin.

Key figures in opener Tom Latham (58) and experienced head Ross Taylor were both undone by a lack of turn.

For the latest on the first test, go to stuff.co.nz