Analyzing and Previewing the play on Day 3 of the WTC Final and analysing the batting, the bowling and the fielding in – depth.
After a delay of half an hour, Day 3 or rather the second day of play got underway with Kohli and Rahane walking out to face the New Zealand bowlers who started the day way better than they started the previous day. They were continuing from where they had left off after having freed their shoulders, warmed up and got their focus on the lengths and lines.
SESSION 1
New Zealand came on the field with game plans to execute. To dismiss the batsmen as they came. And they were well on path as the consistency from Jamieson was troubling Kohli and Rahane from the start and soon enough as Kyle Jamieson, who had been doing well on his lines and getting the most swing and seam among his counterparts, got the right lengths, Kohli was back to the pavilion. Jamieson is a tall guy and all he needed was to pitch his delivery up a bit in order to ensure that its firstly, its bounce is compensated for by the length, and secondly, its movement traps Kohli. The seam movement of that delivery beat Kohli and struck him on the front pad, and he was rightly adjudged LBW.
Now in the middle came Rishabh Pant, a batsman who can be characterized as destructive. He is one who even when understand the situation and decides to save his wicket more than score runs, he still plays defensive while traying true to his natural style. He was tucking the bat into him, and trying to avoid edging the ball when the ball was swinging away from him while passing very close and when he was able make contact, Williamson’s game plan of restricting runs by placing fielders at all key fielding positions was coming into play, and with the good fielders that New Zealand’s players are, Rishabh Pant was being contained until that one four which he was able to hit by finally successfully being able to clear the ball towards the legside from in front of his feet.
By now, Jamieson realized that in order to trap Pant or to force an edge, he had to change his angle of bowling and was now bowling around the wicket, meaning from Pant’s legside. One of the balls turned in and Pant got saved due to an Umpire’s Call, on which the umpire called Not Out understandably as all three stumps were visible. Two balls after that boundary, Jamieson bowled a wide ball across the pitch and that invited Pant’s stroke but it got edged and went into the safe hands of Tim Southee.
During all of this, there was one batsman who was now very settled and slowly picking pace to score runs. He had settled a bit the previous day as well but then came the clouds, and play was suspended due to bad light. The batsman was Rahane, and he was approaching his half century. He had been leaving deliveries well and taking his time but since the start of play on Day 3, he was being troubled a bit by Jamieson but he was persisting and was carrying one end of the batting line – up for India. He was playing it well, as he was always trying to ensure that he plays on the ground and was getting his runs mainly by running between the wickets by pushing the ball through a gap. Rahane was dismissed by an easy catch. New Zealand had shown all signs that they will be attacking Rahane with a short ball, a short ball by Neil Wagner. When the same way done on Day 2, Rahane was easily able to pull it to the ground and get a handful of runs on that delivery but this time around he was caught easily as firstly the delivery was different, and he was not able to play it down. He pulled it up a bit and bye bye it was. Not great work by Rahane, a batsman who has so much experience and had played more than a 100 balls.
Then came Ashwin who understood that is was best to get going and attack every ball that wasn’t a magnificent delivery because if there is enough power, you can get it over the slip cordon as well, and quick runs are needed as you can get stuck and get out easily and there is no point in playing slowly. He did well but could only contribute 22 runs. This dismissal also broke the short lived Jadeja – Ashwin partnership and this was important as next in were the tail – enders who are very very not up to the mark while batting and that is where India lost it all for their first innings. Ishant Sharma survived that session as he had to face only a few balls.
SESSION 2 AND 3
But Ishant Sharma did not last long in Session 2, and then with Jamieson’s swinging delivery Bumrah was out for a golden duck. Jamieson was on a hat – trick ball but he then bowled a poor delivery providing some good width and it was driven well by Shami for 4 runs. But then soon came a delivery that took Jadeja’s touch and was caught by another magnificent dive by BJ Watling and India were all out for 217 runs.
Then as the sun which had come out towards the end of India’s innings had continued to stay out and even with clouds still about but good light all over, Tom Latham and Devon Conway walked out to bat as the Indian side now had a big task on hand and that was to prove that they had a competitive total.
The Indian bowlers are not the biggest swingers of the ball but it isn’t like they can’t swing or seam the ball at all. They have their own strengths in that field. Ishant Sharma bowls from a good height and bowls from just around 10 – 12 m ahead of the crease line and is able to place the ball well and generate good swing, he got swing similar to the amount that Boult got through the match. Shami and Bumrah got much less swing but Bumrah has express pace and a release point very forward whereas Shami was getting a lot of seam movement off the pitch.
India were bowling good lengths but there were two issues, first being that a lot of the deliveries were on a length which would not hit the stumps and secondly, that India required a bit more late swing that could deceive the batsmen in a better manner. The bowlers mostly bowled well to Conway. He bowled in the positive bowl area as analyzed in THE ULTIMATE TEST BETWEEN THE BEST IN TEST – WTC FINAL 2021 PREVIEW. The lines were good. The bowlers were able to induce false shots but the New Zealand batsmen were also batting slowly at a strike rate of just above 2 runs per over and where leaving the deliveries well, and at times were taking help from their big collection of luck. There wasn’t much about the New Zealand batting innings on Day 3 but it was mainly that the batsmen were comfortable playing as they were using the right technique and were benefitting from a slightly low total score by India in the first innings.
The batsmen were batting staying back in their crease which helped them deal with the pace of the Indian bowlers and then when spinners were bowling, they were dealing with spinners in the conventional manner and they showed how comfortable they are while playing test cricket.
Throughout the day, the outfield seemed to be getting quicker especially after the sun came out and started shining on the ground and when it comes to New Zealand’s innings, they surely benefitted just a tad bit from that. When it comes to India’s field placements, it was good but the slip cordon at times seemed a bit off. It seemed a little light on the number of slip and gully fielders. Otherwise the fielding overall and the rest of the field placement was good as such.
The two wickets that fell were a result of persistence and continuing to bowl good lines and lengths and also change – ups which as Rishabh Pant was also saying, helps unsettle the batsmen. The two wickets were a result of excellent catching by Kohli and Shami and bad shot selection by the players – the effect of which was increase by the good fielding and the deliveries. One good thing for New Zealand was that Kane Williamson stood firm at the end of day’s play and was not out and Ross Taylor was saved a bit by the suspension of play early, but Ross Taylor might be in trouble when the play resumes. That will be interesting to see.
APPROACH TO DAY 4/ DAY 3 OF PLAY
If play does happen on Day 4, which also seems like will be a washout but you never know for sure, so if play does happen then it will most probably be advantage India but it will be upto the Indian bowlers to convert it to a good game for India. The Indian bowlers need to keep exploiting the weaknesses of the batsmen as they have been doing and just hope for some luck as well. New Zealand meanwhile needs to form just one more partnership and they should be through.
All in all, It was a good day of cricket which could have lasted a bit longer but it was New Zealand who have won the day’s play as it played out. India can still win the match but it will be a steep challenge based on the current situation and the weather forecast for Day 4.
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