R Ashwin's six-for seals India's win against Kiwis
R Ashwin had already uprooted New Zealand's top order on day four; and on the final day he returned to complete what he had begun, by claiming three-more wickets, that helped India complete a comfortable 197-run win in the first Test in Kanpur on Monday.
At the start of the final day, India needed six wickets to complete a historic win in their 500th Test, but Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner stubbornly stood in their way. The New Zealand duo refused to hand over the early advantage and extended their overnight partnership to 102.
Ronchi successfully negotiated India's spinners on a slow fifth-day pitch, but he lost his concentration in the first over after the drinks break and fell - to a Ravindra Jadeja delivery - for a 120-ball 80. Santner and BJ Watling cautiously negotiated ten overs before Watling was undone by a Mohammad Shami delivery that reverse swung and trapped him lbw. Shami, an over later, uprooted Mark Craig's middle stump.
While wickets fell at one end, Santner stood tall at the other. The left hander hit seven fours and two sixes in his 179-ball 71 before Ashwin squared him up, with a delivery that turned and bounced from outside leg stump, and induced an edge to silly point.
Ashwin ran through the tail without much fuss and dismissed Ish Sodhi and Neil Warner in quick succession to end with innings figures of 6 for 132 and match figures of 10 for 225 in 66.2 overs.
"It's a memorable Test, from the second day onwards when New Zealand were batting really well we and Ashwin were chatting how we had to show good resilience to win it. Credit to them, the reason the match went on to the final day was because of the guts they showed," Virat Kohli, India's captain, said.
Williamson said that, despite the loss, there were a number of positives that his side would take home from the first Test. "There were a lot of positives throughout the match, hopefully a few lessons as well. India outplayed us though and if we look back there was a two session period where the game slipped away from us," Williamson said.
"It would have been nice to get closer to the first innings total, and to start off restricting India to 300 on a good batting wicket was good work, (Ronchi and Santner) were both fantastic, particularly today with the ball spinning sharply. The way Santner applied himself with bat and ball and the way Ronchi played coming back into the team was fantastic. It's about recovery for us [in the break, fitness wise]."