India hand NZ control after batting flop show on Day 1 in third Test

INDIA BOWL OUT NZ FOR 235

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MUMBAI: India's batters lost the plot in a matter of 20 minutes, leaving the side at a jittery 86/4 after Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar gave the hosts the early bragging rights by dismissing New Zealand for 235 on an eventful day one of the third and final Test here on Friday.

Jadeja (5/65) and Sundar (4/81) did their job to perfection but India's batting continued to be a weak link as the side lost three wickets in the space of eight balls, starting with Yashasvi Jaiswal's (30) inexplicable reverse slog sweep.

With his 14th five-for in Tests, Jadeja also moved ahead of former pace bowling teammates Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to climb to the fifth spot in the list of highest wicket-takers for India in the format.

With 314 wickets so far, Jadeja is now behind Harbhajan Singh (417 wickets) in the all-time list.

India, who lost by eight wickets in Bengaluru and by 113 runs in Pune, are in a desperate position to remain alive in the race to the World Test Championship final but the contest seems to be slipping away.

If Virat Kohli (4) missing an innocuous full toss to be cleaned up in first innings at Pune was an aberration, the batting maestro ran himself out in ending stages of the first day's play which left India staring at a mountain to climb.