India vs New Zealand | India close in on clean-sweep after Ashwin dismisses 8

Brief Scores: India 557/5 declared and 18/0 (Vijay 11*, Pujara 1*) against New Zealand 299 all out in 90.2 overs (Guptill 72, Neesham 71; Ashwin 6/81, Jadeja 2/80)

Guptill finally comes good

Martin Guptill has been under a lot of pressure to perform in recent times. The 30-year-old's place in the Test squad has been questioned after his poor run of form in the last Test 10 innings. However, with his back firmly to the wall, Guptill, finally, showed the range of stroke play which had seen him become one of the most dangerous batsmen in the limited-overs format of the game.

Despite chasing India's mammoth-first innings total, Guptill showed a lot of positive intent from the start of the day. He got a lucky break when Ajinkya Rahane dropped his catch at gully off Mohammed Shami in the 13th over. However, he made the most out of that break and went after Ravindra Jadeja. He hit Jadeja for a four and a massive six off consecutive deliveries in the 24th over and then hit him through the cover boundary in the 28th over to bring up his half-century.

Meanwhile, Tom Latham continued his impressive form at the other end and brought up his third half-century of the series in the 32nd over, and once again it was with a boundary off Jadeja.

Ashwin's magical spell

New Zealand were coasting along nicely at 118/0 before Ashwin happened to the visitors. A teasing little off break from the off-spinner was met with a closed bat from Latham, and the ball gently lobbed back to the bowler. This started the downfall, and New Zealand would lose 5 wickets for their next 30 runs as Ashwin decimated the top-order single-handedly.

Kane Williamson did not stay long on his return as he dragged on a ball from Ashwin on to his stumps, while Ross Taylor played inside the line of the ball, and ended up giving an easy catch to Rahane, two overs later. New Zealand were down to 140/3, and just when it seemed like Guptill's luck was turning, he was caught out of his crease at the non-striker's end. Luke Ronchi hit a superb straight drive off Ashwin, and the Indian bowler managed to touch the ball with the tip of his fingers before it hit the stumps at the bowler's end (Ashwin would repeat this same method few overs later to dismiss Jeetan Patel). Guptill was caught out of his crease, and it brought an end to a wonderful innings.

Rahane made up for his earlier dropped catch by taking a blinder to dismiss Ronchi in the 49th over, while Neesham was trapped in front of the wicket to become Ashwin's fifth victim of the innings. The replay, however, showed that the ball would have missed the wicket. It was Ashwin's 20th 5-wicket haul in just 39 Test matches, and he was also the man to close off the Kiwi innings by dismissing Trent Boult. With 6 wickets and two run-outs, Ashwin had dismantled the New Zealand innings and restricted them to a score of 299, despite a century-run stand between Guptill and Latham.

Neesham's defiance

After missing the first two Test matches due to an injury, Jimmy Neesham finally got his opportunity, and he grabbed it with both his hands. Although he failed to make his mark with the ball in the first innings, the 26-year-old showed exactly what he is capable of with the bat in his hands. As Ashwin ran through the New Zealand side, Neesham was the only batsman who provided some resistance in the middle. He was part of two 50-run partnerships with Watling and Santner, and he was timing the ball superbly. In fact, he was extremely unlucky to be given out by Kumar Dharmasena when the point of impact of the ball was outside his off-stump. After his departure, New Zealand could add just 23 more runs and fell well short of India's first innings total.

Kohli decides against enforcing follow-on

Despite having the option to enforce the follow-on, Virat Kohli decided against batting fourth on this wicket, as Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay walked out to open India's innings. Gambhir, who had picked up a shoulder injury while fielding, could not last for too long on the crease. He had to retire in the third over, and Pujara had replaced him on the crease when India ended the day at 18/0.