Jadeja keeps India at the top amidst Young and Mitchell fifties

Ravindra Jadeja (3-53) struck three times in the post-lunch session to ensure India had a marginal advantage against New Zealand on the first day of the third Test in Mumbai. The left-arm spinner grabbed the big scalp of Will Young (71), who looked set for a ton, before removing Tom Blundell for a duck and Glenn Phillips for 17. Daryl Mitchell (53*) has struggled out there but has now managed Only the tail provides company on a surface that is starting to help the spinners more and more.

Young and Mitchell got through the first hour without any major problems, although one or two balls played tricks on the spinners. Both played with soft hands and used their feet well, apart from executing the swings well. But as the session progressed, there were noticeable twists and turns, which Jadeja exploited brilliantly. He deceived the well-positioned Young with a lovely ball throw that drifted inside and turned sharply and with momentum to find the outside edge. In the same over, Blundell was dismissed when he followed up with a delivery that hit leg stump and disrupted the off-bail with a sharp turn.

Phillips took advantage of his luck and stuck with Mitchell for a while, but the former was thrown off course by Jadeja's trademark arm ball which went through and broke leg stump. This scalp was historic for the left-arm spinner as he moved into the top five for most Test wickets by an Indian, overtaking Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, who had 311 wickets to their name. With the surface starting to deteriorate significantly for the spinners, New Zealand will be hoping to increase their total as much as possible as the batting could get tougher in the coming days.

Short scores: New Zealand 192-6 (Will Young 71, Daryl Mitchell 53*; Ravindra Jadeja 3-53, Washington Sundar 2-26) vs India