Every turning delivery was a roaring evidence of spin's sovereignty at Kanpur.

A
nd of India's dominance at home, celebrating its 500th Test with a stylish win.
The hosts were comfortably superlative, New Zealand not entirely hapless. A youn
g team probed India before surrendering, not embarrassingly at a fortress, and w
ill now travel to the Eden Gardens rather unscathed in reputation. They were eve
rything South Africa couldn't be, even in a loss. Kolkata is India's rebel pitch
: never the ready-made turn there - even when the Indian captain wants! - and re
verse swing is forever in attendance. That will be New Zealand's chance, that is
if they haven't conceded to Kanpur's visibly hideous, secretly pretty dustbowl.
That's it. Ramakrishnan, Pratyush Sinha, Sagar Chawla and Sreenivas, our scorer
, take leave. Enjoy your Monday blues, ta-ta!
Harsha Bhogle: Meanwhile Ashwin continues to mint wickets. That machine in his y
ard is doing double-shifts
Before we sign-off, let's look at a few stats from our man Deepu Narayanan.
Ravichandran Ashwin now has 5 ten-fers, equals Harbhajan Singh. Only Anil Kumble
(8) has more
Most consecutive Tests without defeat for an Indian captain:
18 S Gavaskar
17 Kapil Dev
14 M Azharuddin
11 MS Dhoni/ VIRAT KOHLI *
Biggest wins for Ind vs NZ in Tests (by runs):
272 Auckland, 1968
216 Chennai, 1976
197 Kanpur, 2016 *
172 Bangalore, 1988
Kohli: "The boys applied themselves really well. We were in a spot of bother at
times. Initially we had the momentum with the bat, but a couple of soft dismissa
ls put pressure. Jadeja and Ashwin added crucial runs to dig us out. Those 30-40
extra runs make a psychological difference. I am still pretty early in my capta
incy career, I look for advice from people around me. There have been cases wher
e we've gone on one mode and the runs were leaked. One learning that we are taki
ng forward is when wickets aren't coming, we need to be patient. All the sides t
hat are doing well around the world have strong lower-middle orders. The tailend
ers also contribute. That's one area that we have improved and we need to keep w
orking on because those 30-40 extra runs could prove crucial. It's been a very g
ood Test match. When New Zealand were batting well on Day 2, me and Ashwin had a
chat about this Test match being an exciting game. We needed to play at our bes
t to win. Credit goes to New Zealand as well. The reason why this game went to t
he second session on the fifth day was because of the character they showed."
Williamson: "The boys were positive throughout the match, but credit to India. T
hey outplayed us with bat and ball. It was a two session period that the game sl
ipped away from us. Restricting India to 300 odd on a good batting surface was a
very good effort, but at the end of the day India were certainly the better tea
m. The way Santner applied himself with both bat and ball was impressive and the
way Luke Ronchi came back into the side and played with freedom was good to wat
ch. It's important that the boys recover nicely and we look forward to another c
hallenge in Kolkata."
Jadeja: "I am very happy. Before the series started I was thinking that I need p
lay my role as a batsman as well. I was preparing myself as a batsman. Duleep Tr
ophy helped me a lot because I was getting wickets there as well. It gave me con
fidence as well. I was enjoying my bowling. The ball wasn't turning from the stu
mp line in the first innings, so we were trying to mix the pace. Obviously Ashwi
n is a very good bowler on slow turning wickets and I would like to congratulate
him for 200 wickets. Whenever the wickets wasn't falling, we would discuss stra
tegies. In the first innings when Williamson and Latham were batting, we discuss
ed about the pace to bowl, the angles to bowl. I enjoy bowling with him."
Jadeja is the Man of the Match for scoring 92 runs and taking 6 wickets.
Rahane: "It feels really great to stand at slip to Jadeja and Ashwin. You have t
o concentrate hard and be at your best. It is important to switch off and on bet

ween balls. On this track, you have to be more alert as half chances matter a lo
t. We practice a lot with our slip fielding and it is working well. The pitch go
t slower, but credit to our bowlers. Those two wickets from Shami were very cruc
ial and of course Ashwin was fantastic as well and Jadeja too contributed really
well. Momentum is what we wanted and it's a happy moment for all of us that we
have won the first game."
12.55pm local: So India go 1-0 up in the series, a fitting way to commemorate th
e landmark 500th Test. But it's not come without NZ showing some spunk at variou
s stages. You could argue they were ahead going into Day 3 after Williamson and
Latham had blunted out everything. That was after a solid fightback from their b
owlers which prevented the hosts from building on the Vijay-Pujara foundation. B
ut with the pitch deteriorating further and offering more and more turn, once th
e hosts broke through the 124-run stand, the Kiwis unraveled and collapsed from
159/1 to 262 all out, thereby conceding a lead of 56. That turnaround in fortune
s just knocked the stuffing out of them. India capitalized on it. Played convent
ional cricket to take the game out of sight with Vijay, Pujara notching up twin
fifties and then were provided the declaration impetus from Rohit and Jadeja. As
hwin's early burst with the new ball, during which he became the 2nd fastest bow
ler to 200 Test wickets, pretty much sealed the fate. Despite commendable reargu
ard from Santner-Ronchi, India simply had too much ammo to overcome the pitch sl
owing down; what with Shami coming to the party as well.
Rahane picks up a stump for Ashwin and gives it as a souvenir. The customary han
dshake between the players after the conclusion of the game. The Indian team man
agement is elated in the dressing room and so are the fans in the stands. The In
dian flag is being waved in joy. On the walk back, Ashwin explains one of his st
rategies to Vijay. Kohli looks happy and this win would please him.
87.3
Ashwin to Wagner, out Lbw!! And it's a 10-wicket haul in the match for Ashwin. T
his is the fifth time he's done that. He ends with six in the second essay. So I
ndia win their 500th Test match in style. The carrom ball from Ashwin, pitches o
utside off stump, spins back in and beats Wagner on the defence, impact in line
with middle and it would have at least clipped the leg stump according to umpire
Richard Kettleborough. Wagner lbw b Ashwin 0(12)
Ashwin to Wagner, THAT'S OUT!! Lbw!!
87.2
Ashwin to Wagner, no run, flighted delivery, blocked
87.1
Ashwin to Wagner, no run, beaten! Turning square after pitching outside leg and
almost taking the edge
Must say, Boult has impressed with his defensive technique against the spinners,
especially Jadeja. He is making a conscious effort to come forward