Mitchell Santner defeats India to give New Zealand a taste of historic series win | cricket

A spectacular seven-wicket haul from Mitchell Santner helped New Zealand beat India by 156 before the tourists reached 198 for five at stumps on the second day of the second Test in Pune on Friday, asserting their control of the three-wicket game series consolidated.

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

Washington Sundar removed 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 captain Tom Latham returned to form with a timely 86 but became Washington's fourth victim late in the afternoon after giving the tourists a strong position to secure their first series win in India.

India are seeking their 19th consecutive home win since a 2-1 defeat to England in 2012 but will have to work hard to catch up with New Zealand ahead of the final in Mumbai early next month.

Santner had earlier posted career-best figures of seven for 53 while Phillips took two for 26 as the spinners continued to shine at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium where Washington took seven for 59 on the first day.

The hosts were cruising at 16-1 after losing captain Rohit Sharma to a nine-ball duck on Thursday night, and Shubman Gill was lucky to survive a loud appeal for lbw from Santner on the third ball of the morning when he was at 10.

Santner caught Gill straight ahead for 30 and the left-armer struck again, bowling Virat Kohli for one with an inviting full toss which the batsman missed. Mitchell made a sharp catch at slip as Phillips dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal for 30 and the tourists could have had another if the fielder had had a difficult chance when Santner edged off Sarfaraz Khan's blade.

Rishabh Pant was bowled out for 18 by Phillips after a miss and Santner had Sarfaraz caught for 11, leaving India on 95 and six on the ropes, with both batting heroes from the opening game back in the dugout.

Santner caught Ashwin lbw for four and removed Ravindra Jadeja in similar fashion after the batsman made a defiant 38 before managing one to go through the Akash Deep defense.

He then grabbed Jasprit Bumrah, ensuring New Zealand would start their second innings with a lead of 103 and India face their first home defeat in 12 years.