New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Martin Guptill gave India a taste of their own medicine as they brought up a century partnership in the first session of day three of the third Test in Indore. Both batsmen were dropped by the Indian fielders, but they also made their own luck by showing a lot of determination and positive batting. Latham was dismissed for 53 with less than 15 minutes to go before lunch, as New Zealand ended the session at 125/1, still trailing India by 432 runs.
Guptill, in particular, refused to be tied down by the Indian spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and regularly went for his shots. Possibly playing to save his Test career, Guptill helped his cause by bringing up his first Test fifty in seven innings. Latham also scored his third half-century of the series before being dismissed by Ashwin.
The day started with Umesh Yadav getting reverse swing from a ball that was barely 10 overs old. The umpires then changed it because they thought it had gone out of shape. Indian captain Virat Kohli did not lose much time in bringing his spinners in, but found that the Kiwi openers were up for a fight. Both Ashwin and Jadeja were left frustrated by Latham and Guptill, and the dropped chances did not help.
New Zealand's battle to save this Test is more of a mental one now and they seem to have won the first round. If they manage to continue scoring 90-100 runs a session with minimum loss of wickets, India could soon begin to get twitchy and frustrated. There are still eight possible sessions to go in this match and it would require a marathon effort from the visitors to salvage something from this encounter.
The third-day pitch in Indore also seems to be holding up, but should get more difficult to bat on in the last two days. Whatever New Zealand have to do to save this Test, a majority of it would have to be done today itself.
