Virat Kohli and his men are on the verge of winning the second test in Mumbai as the Kiwis continued to struggle with the bat during the second innings. Kiwis chasing 540, and 400 runs short at the moment with the better half of their side back in the pavilion. R. Ashwin was the wrecker in chief with four wickets in his kitty. India declared their second innings on 276 for 7 in 70 overs just before tea on the third day, setting New Zealand a target of 540.Mayank Agarwal scored 62 and shared a century partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara while Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli added 82 runs for the third wicket as India went searching for runs. Axar Patel blasted an unbeaten 41 runs off 26 balls as India declared on 276/7.
Ajaz Patel was the best New Zealand bowler on the day as he claimed 4/106 in the second innings for overall 14 wickets in the match the highest taken by any bowler against India ever.Resuming at 142/2 post lunch Shubman Gill kept the scoreboard moving along with skipper Virat Kohli and the duo took India's total beyond the 150-run mark. The duo hardly faced any difficulty in facing the Kiwi spinners Rachin Ravindra and William Somerville reaching the fifty-run partnership.Kohli-Gill took India's lead beyond 450-run mark. Gill once again failed to make a big score after getting set as he was caught in short extra-cover by Tom Latham of Rachin Ravindra's bowling. The first wicket was bagged by a Kiwi bowler in the match apart from Ajaz Patel.After Virat's dismissal, Wriddhiman Saha and Axar Patel started batting aggressively and took India's lead beyond 500-run mark. Rachin got his third wicket of the innings dismissing Saha for 12. Axar though continued with his big shots taking Rachin Ravindra to the cleaners and in process hitting 4 sixes.India finally declared at 276/7 setting New Zealand a target of above 500.
