Kiwi spinner Ajaz gets 14-for but India on brink of victory

MUMBAI - India need another five wickets to win the second Test as New Zealand chase an improbable 540 despite the Kiwis'

Mumbai-born Ajaz Patel returning a record 14-225 on Sunday.

   New Zealand ended day three on 140-5 after the hosts declared their second
innings after left-arm spinner Ajaz, who took 10 wickets in an innings, put
up best-ever match figures by a bowler against India.

   The previous best was England fast bowler Ian Botham's 13-106 in Mumbai in
1980.

   Henry Nicholls, on 36, and Rachin Ravindra, on two, were batting after
Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (3-27) and Axar Patel rattled the New
Zealand top-order.

   Ashwin struck first with the wicket of stand-in skipper Tom Latham for 10
and then took down Will Young and Ross Taylor in successive overs.

   Daryl Mitchell resisted and raised his third Test fifty with a boundary
off fast bowler Umesh Yadav. He put on 73 runs with Nicholls for the fourth
wicket.

   Mitchell finally fell to Axar's left-arm spin and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom
Blundell was run out on nought as a raucous home crowd roared.

   Earlier Ajaz extended his bowling show for New Zealand with Ravindra
joining his fellow spinner for three wickets including Shubman Gill (47) and
skipper Virat Kohli (36).

   Axar hit an unbeaten 41 before India called off their innings in the
second session at 276-7, with New Zealand already a wicket down by tea.

   Overnight batsmen Mayank Agarwal (62) and Cheteshwar Pujara (47) put on
107 runs to take the attack to the opposition in the first hour of play.

   Agarwal, who made 150 in India's first innings of 325, reached his fifty
with a six off Ajaz and followed it up with another boundary to signal his
attacking intent.

   He finally fell to Ajaz, who almost bowled unchanged from his end in the
morning session, after another attempt to go for the big shot got him caught
at long-off.

   Pujara, who hit Ajaz for two successive boundaries early in the morning,
was denied his fifty after being caught at slip.

   Ajaz, 33, returned 10-119 in India's first innings on day two to emulate
England's Jim Laker and Indian spin legend Anil Kumble for 10 wickets in one
innings.

  Ajaz, who moved to Auckland with his parents in 1996, made his debut for
New Zealand in 2018 as a 30-year-old and is playing his 11th match.

   New Zealand's batting collapsed to 62 all out in the final session on
Saturday, leaving India with a lead of 263.BSS/AFP