On day three of the second Test match against New Zealand at the MCA Stadium on Saturday, the hosts reached 81/1 in only 12 overs at lunchtime thanks to a brilliant 46 from Yashasvi Jaiswal, who spearheaded India’s drive-in chase of 359.

Jaiswal put up a spectacular display of smashing eye-catching boundaries with his undefeated 46 from 36 balls on a track that favored spinners. Shubman Gill, who is not out on 22 off 20 balls, has been a great assistance to him. The two have produced a variety of sweeps to keep the scoreboard going.

India would prefer that Jaiswal and Gill put bowlers under strain for a longer amount of time even if Rohit Sharma fell cheaply to Mitchell Santner, who was holding to his right side. This is because India still needs 278 runs to pull off an unlikely victory and save the series.

In the first over, Jaiswal heaved and punches Tim Southee for six and four, respectively, setting up an exciting chase. Jaiswal danced down the field to slap Southee past cover for four more after Rohit had drawn William O’Rourke for an easy four.

Gill immediately got going with two wonderful sweeps off Ajaz Patel for boundaries after Rohit’s inside edge popped up to short leg off Santner to remove him for eight. Gill then sliced off Santner for four more. In keeping with his aggressiveness, Jaiswal danced down the field and drove Santner for four before hitting a six over the bowler’s head.

Before Gill’s thick edge racing to four off Santner ended an exciting lunch session, he delivered the shot of the session by dancing down the track and allowing himself space to fire a magnificent inside-out shot over deep extra cover for a massive six against Glenn Phillips.

In the past, India had a difficult aim of 359 runs as New Zealand lost their final five wickets in the first hour of day three and could only add 57 runs to their overnight advantage of 301.

After failing to take any wickets for two days, Ravindra Jadeja quickly claimed three before Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed another wicket and a run-out, ensuring that India did a good job of quickly terminating New Zealand’s innings.

After Phillips took three boundaries off Ashwin to start the match, Jadeja scored his first goal of the game when he got a straight ball to slip under Tom Blundell’s gate and castle him for 41.

Ashwin had Southee edging to slip after Jadeja had Santner holing out to long-on. After Patel holed out in the deep to become Jadeja’s third wicket, O’Rourke became a little complacent while finishing the second run, and Jadeja swiftly removed the bails to catch him short of crease at the bowler’s end, ending New Zealand’s innings despite Phillips hitting two sixes.

India leads New Zealand by 278 runs at 156 and 81/1 in 12 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 46 not out, Shubman Gill 22 not out; Mitchell Santner 1-30) with 259 and 255 in 69.4 overs (Tom Latham 86, Glenn Phillips 48 not out; Washington Sundar 4-56, Ravindra Jadeja 3-72).Yashasvi Jaiswal, New Zealand vs. India