Daily Times

A spectacular seven-wicket haul by Mitchell Santner helped New Zealand dismiss India for 156 before the tourists reached 198-5 at stumps on day two of the second test in Pune on Friday to tighten their grip on the three-match series.

Tom Blundell was unbeaten on 30 and Glenn Phillips was batting on nine and as the Black Caps, who won the series opener by eight wickets, extended their lead to 301 runs at the close after scoring 259 in the first innings.

Washington Sundar got rid of Devon Conway for 17, Rachin Ravindra for nine and Daryl Mitchell for 18 while Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Will Young for 23, but the runs came quickly and too easily for New Zealand.

New skipper Tom Latham returned to form with a timely 86 but became Washington’s fourth victim late in the afternoon after he put the tourists in a strong position to secure their maiden series victory in India.