New Zealand speedster Trent Boult was at his fiery best as he claimed three crucial wickets in India's second innings on third day of first Test at Basin Reserve in Wellington on Sunday. Boult scalped the wickets of Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli to leave the visitors reeling at 144/4. India still trail by 39 runs with Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari holding the fort.
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After the end of day's play, Boult revealed he used the short-ball strategy to keep Kohli under check. He also stated New Zealand bowled tried against giving him easy runs which eventually helped them create pressure on the Indian skipper.
"Virat likes to feel the bat on ball like a couple of their guys. Definitely almost we miss, he hits and he hits it well and gets boundaries," Boult told reporters in Wellington. "From our point of view, we were trying to dry that up and for me personally using the wicket (crease) and the shorter ball was a good plan to try and control his run rate."
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"It is nice to draw the error out of him but I think the way that Kyle has been bowling the whole match, especially that spell he bowled to him and not letting him get away to a racing start was a big part of it.
"I'm just happy to be back out there. I've been pretty light on Test cricket and it's been a little frustrating on the sidelines," he added.
Boult also spoke about New Zealand's plans for the first session on the penultimate day of the Test. According to Boult, if the Kiwis can pick couple of wickets early on the fourth day, they will go a step closer to going 1-0 up in the series.
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"I enjoyed today and we're in a good position. The partnership out there is a big one but if we can get a couple more early in the first hour or so. we should be in a good position," Boult said.
((With PTI inputs))