Big fat Indian ending?

New Zealand arrived for the Mumbai Test with hopes of registering their second Test win at the Wankhede Stadium after a fighting draw at KanpurHowever all those hopes are likely to be crushed today as the visitors stare at one of their heaviest defeats in Test cricket World No 1 New Zealand are 400 runs away from chasing an improbable target of 540 after finishing Day Three at 1405 in response to Indiarsquos 2767 declared on SundaylsquoTherersquos enough timersquoldquoI wonrsquot call it a delay in declaration as there is so much time left in the game The idea was to bat as long as possible as you donrsquot get this kind of a situation every day So the plan was to make the most of it We were trying to explore various optionsrdquo Axar Patel said at the end of the third dayrsquos playIndiarsquos Axar Patel centre celebrates the fall of NZrsquos Daryl Mitchell on Day Three of the second Test at the Wankhede yesterday PicAFPThe Kiwi batters once again found it difficult to negotiate Ravichandran Ashwin 327Although they put on a far better show than their first inningsrsquo 62 all out it will require a monumental effort to get out of this situationAlso Read Perfect 10 Ajaz to gift MCA memorabiliaThe Indian offie had NZ skipper Tom Latham 6 and opener Will Young 20 caught at short leg before dismissing Ross Taylor whose aggressive approach backfired Daryl Mitchell 60 and Henry Nicholls 36 not out put on a 73run stand for the fourth wicket before Axar 142 dismissed the former The run out of Tom Blundell made matters worse for the visitorsLeftarm spinner Ajaz Patel was once again the only cheer factor for the Kiwis Four wickets in the second Indian innings helped Ajaz finish with 14225 to register bestever Test figures by any bowler against India Ajaz claimed one wicket more than Englandrsquos Ian Botham 13106 who ruled the 1980 Test match at Wankhede Ajazrsquos figures are the secondbest Test analysis by a New Zealand bowler after Sir Richard HadleeThis time though Rachin Ravindra claimed three wickets to steal some of the limelight from Ajaz ldquoIt was pretty funny because we thought he was going to take all 20 They congratulated me for taking my first wicket That first wicket of Shubman Gill was very specialrdquo said RavindraIndian openers Mayank Agarwal 62 and Cheteshwar Pujara 47 provided a rollicking start to the dayrsquos play with 30 runs in the first five overs However Tim Southee unleashed a barrage of short balls with as many as seven fielders on the leg side When Ajaz claimed the first three wickets of the Indian second innings But Ravindra dismissed Shubman Gill 47 skipper Virat Kohli 36 and Wriddhiman Saha 13 post the tea breakAxarrsquos onslaughtHowever some lusty blows from Axar 41 not out off 26 balls brought the Wankhede crowd on its feet ldquoThis has been a dream year for me The way I bowled in the England series at home and now how the New Zealand series panned outhellipin between there was the IPL too so I can say that this has really been a good year for me My endeavour is to keep improving and look at areas where I need to get better All the hard work that I have put in all these years have finally yielded results this yearrdquo said AxarBrief scoresIndia 325 amp 2767decl M Agarwal 62 C Pujara 47 Gill 47 Ajaz 4106 R Ravindra 356 v NZ 62 amp 1405 D Mitchell 60 H Nicholls 36 R Ashwin 319Also Read Go east go west North Stand is the best