India were bowled out for 263 as the pitch at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium continued to play tricks on Day 2 of the third Test between India and New Zealand. The hosts managed to take a slender 28-run lead in the first innings. (Live Blog | More Cricket News)
A video of massive amount of dust coming out from the area around the popping crease during the cleaning of the pitch at the lunch break was doing rounds on social media as batting continued to get harder as the game progressed.
Bowlers' footmarks make the area around the popping crease lose on both sides of the pitch leading to it becoming difficult to bat on, especially against spinners.The amount of dust coming out from the Wankhede surface shows how dry the pitch was and the spinners were already having a good time in the match.
Indian spinners ran riot during New Zealand's batting as Ravindra Jadeja picked five-wicket haul and Washington Sundar got four wickets. The Kiwis were bowled out for 235 in the first innings with Jadeja and Sundar sharing nine of the ten wickets among themselves.
Indian batters too were troubled by the New Zealand spinners, especially left-arm orthodox bowler Ajaz Patel who picked up a fifer. The Kiwi left-arm spinner picked 5 wickets for 103 runs in 21.4 overs. Off-spinner Glenn Phillips and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also picked up a wicket each.
For India, Shubman Gill was the top scorer with a solid 90. Rishabh Pant too scored an entertaining 59-ball 60. Washington Sundar remained unbeaten on 38 from 36 balls.
The pitch will continue to deteriorate and make life hard for the batters of both New Zealand and India in their second innings.
