India 57/0 at tea, trail by 299 runs after Ravindra ton takes NZ to 402

Rachin Ravindra made a stupendous hundred and Tim Southee a fluent fifty as New Zealand gained a massive firstinnings lead of 356 runs to keep India on the backfoot on the third day of the IND vs NZ 1st Test on FridayIn their second innings India were 57 for no loss when tea was taken still behind by 299 runs Skipper Rohit Sharma 27 and Yashasvi Jaiswal 29 were at the creaseNew Zealand were bowled out for 402 in their first innings an hour into the second session with Ravindra 134 157b and Southee 65 73b clubbing 134 runs during a flowing eighth wicket standResuming the day from 180 for three New Zealand might have hoped to build considerably on the advantage but the spirited Indian bowlers led by Ravindra Jadeja 372 took some early wickets to reduce them to 233 for sevenThey lost Daryl Mitchell Glenn Phillips Tom Blundell and Matt Henry in this periodJasprit Bumrah snaffled Blundell while Mohammed Siraj had the number of Mitchell both perishing in the slip and gully cordonThe crafty Jadejas quick leftarm darts pinned both Phillips and Henry on the backfoot as both of them lost their middle stumpsThe Black Caps were ahead by 187 runs at that time and it was not a safe position considering a relatively more eased out pitch and bright conditionsIt was imperative for the Kiwis to take the lead at least till the 250mark to maintain their edge over IndiaRavindra and Southee exceeded the expectations during their alliance to extend their teams lead past the 300run mark in the first innings of the IND vs NZ 1st TestAlso ReadRavindras hundred takes NZ to 3457 at lunch as India wilt under pressureRavindra started cautiously after seeing a flurry of wickets at the other end but unfurled his full range once he and the pitch settled down past the firsthour markThe 24yearold who has his family roots in Bengaluru showed the correct method to play Indian spinners on this track either staying on the front foot or making a shimmy down the pitch that nullified the turn and also took the leg before dismissal out of the equationA thundering six off Jadeja took him to 94 and he reached 98 by dispatching the very next ball to the fence through the coversThere were no nerves as a cleanly swept four off Ravichandran Ashwin carried him to his second Test hundred which he celebrated with gustoSouthee who hammered a couple of his trademark sixes gave solid company to Ravindra and duly completed his seventh Test fifty immediately after the lunchThe burgeoning alliance was snapped by a slower ball from Siraj which Southee spooned to Jadeja at coversRavindra followed soon topedging Kuldeep Yadav 399 to Dhruv Jurel as the Kiwis innings came to a closeIndia needed a solid start to their second innings to stay afloat in the match and Rohit and Jaiswal did exactly that while taking the home side to tea without damageJaiswal was a bit nervous to start getting beaten by Henry and Southee but Rohit was smooth and played a couple of silken flicks off pacers as India will hope for some more runs from the duo in the final sessionWith agency inputs