Picture Credit: ICC
The Day 5 of the ongoing World Test Championship Final between India and New Zealand has produced some breathtaking action on Tuesday morning in Southampton. The experienced duo of Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson played out the first hour of the day's play quite comfortably. However, the thing started to turn around with Mohammed Shami starting to swing the ball both ways with the Kiwis finally finding themselves under a lot of pressure.
The consistent and disciplined bowling led to a flurry of wickets as Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling were dismissed in a span of 20 runs in 7 overs. From 117/3, NZ were down to 135/5 with the match completely turning on its head. While Kane Williamson held the other end with a gritty knock, he showed a lot of patience while batting at a strike rate of under 20.
Ice-cool Williamson loses his concentration
Interestingly, there was a moment when even ice-cool Williamson lost his concentration and that was not because of any player on the field. With the Kiwi skipper playing a slow knock, some fans inside the stadium tried to get under his nerves. During an over of Jasprit Bumrah, someone in the crowd shouted ‘Boring Kane Williamson’ and surprisingly the 30-year-old lost his focus and tried to chase a wide delivery on the next ball.
He was lucky to survive as he missed the ball and fortunately for the New Zealand fans, he got back his concentration and saw through the session, finishing with 19* off 112 deliveries. However, India were on top going into lunch on Day 5 as Virat Kohli and Co. are playing some brilliant cricket and the fans in Southampton are absolutely behind their team. With Team India skipper constantly asking the crowd to get involved, we are set for a thrilling last two sessions at Rose Bowl stadium on Tuesday.