New Zealand batsmen seem to have surrendered before the Indian pacers as they couldn’t go past the score of 204 runs on the third day of the second Test at the Eden Gardens.
Putting India into driver’s seat were Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5/48) and Mohammed Shami (3/70) as they together sent back 8 of visiting team’s batsmen.
Struggling NZ saw a small ray of hope in Jeetan Patel who scored maximum 47 runs from their side before getting dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Yesterday, Kumar took five wickets to put New Zealand in the woods as India took giant strides towards an unassailable 2-0 series lead on a rain-truncated Day Two of the Test.
Bhuvneshwar (5-33) exploited the overcast conditions in the final session as he displayed his full repertoire of swing bowling to shave off New Zealand's top order leaving them on 128/7 at stumps before a motley but appreciative crowd of around 7,000.
In the morning, resuming at the overnight 239/7, India's first innings ended at 316, with Wriddhiman Saha doing justice to his new-found reputation of scoring vital runs in the lower-order enroute to notching up an unbeaten half-century -- the third in his Test career.
