WTC Final | India’s first-innings score of 217 a bit under-par, feels Kyle Jamieson

After a resilient showing on day 2, India looked on course to posting a 300-plus total in the first innings of the WTC Final but a horror collapse resulted in them getting bowled out for 217. Resuming the day on 146/3, India lost skipper Virat Kohli in the third over of the day, and Kohli’s dismissal proved to be the catalyst for the collapse as the number two ranked side in the world lost their last 7 wickets for just 68 runs to get bowled out for 217.

Many have opined that India’s 217 was a below-par total, and on Sunday Kyle Jamieson echoed the same sentiments. Speaking post the day’s play, the lanky seamer reckoned that India did leave quite a few runs behind in the first innings.

“I think they were probably a little bit under-par,” Jamieson said on Sunday.

“The conditions were bowler-friendly but I thought runs were to be had. We saw that on day 2 where they were really patient and put away the bad balls and scored relatively freely when it was there. 217 was a good total but under what we would have thought.”

Jamieson himself, though, was certainly above par. Resuming day 3 with a sole wicket next to his name, the tall speedster added four more scalps to his name to notch up a fifth career five-wicket haul in just his 8th Test. Among the lot, the biggest - and arguably the best - dismissal proved to be the one of Virat Kohli, a wicket that tilted the game on its head. The 26-year-old expressed that he was ‘pleased’ to dismiss the Indian skipper.

“I think he's a world-class batter, and those guys don't tend to have too many chinks in their armour. Certainly pleasing to get him. Like I said before, he's obviously a massive part of their lineup, and to get him early certainly set things up nicely for us. Just was pleasing in terms of for myself being able to try to wobble the ball and try and keep him in check a little bit and to get that wicket was pleasing and just a great start for our game.”

Jamieson accounted for the wicket of Kohli with a ball that nipped back into the batsmen and it was a set-up that was clever as, prior to the wicket-ball, Jamieson not just had bowled a tad short, but also had not targeted the stumps. With the Indian skipper expecting a similar delivery, the tall seamer nipped a full delivery back into the right-hander to trap the batsman LBW. 

Jamieson claimed that the devilish set-up can be tricky for any batsman to handle, and insisted that there is little a batter can do when the ball nips back in ferociously.

"Oh, I guess yes. May be there is some sort of pattern and this we know talk about huge amount, the one that I was able to get him (Kohli) today certainly seamed back a little-bit.

"And that was pretty hard to control as a bowler and pretty harder to manage as a batter no matter who you are. So I don't think it is necessarily just for him (Kohli).”

New Zealand are currently on the front-foot, trailing India by 116 runs with 8 wickets in hand, but Jamieson admitted that the Kiwi batters would have to work really hard to get a substantial lead. The 26-year-old insisted that the key for his side will be to stay in the moment.

"I think obviously the key moving forward is to try and build on that, and if we can get ahead, great, if we can get 50, 100, 150, great. I think as a bowling unit we'll take whatever we can get really. Yeah, we've seen that it's not easy. It's not easy batting conditions, and with the class of this Indian bowling lineup, we know that it's going to be tough. We know again, it's just going to be about trying to win the moment and to stay in the moment. If we can do that, whatever lead we can get to, if we get there, and then build on will be great,” Jamieson said.