Ashwin v Williamson - a game of cat and mouse

There is no point. The fielder, that is. The mind must keep telling you that there is no fielder at point. It is an over of temptation. An offspinner is bowling with a slip, a cover and a mid-off. It is not a new ploy on a pitch with some turn, but it is still a temptation. On the leg side, there are two men waiting for catches, two men to stop singles and two men to save boundaries. And this particular offspinner, R Ashwin, is teasing you; he is bowling short of a driving length, but not quite short enough to cut.

At the start of this particular over, the 43rd of the New Zealand innings, Kane Williamson is on 8 off 19. He goes back to the first ball. Then he sees it is not short enough to cut and plays defensively with a straight bat, with the turn. Eight off 20 now. The next one is not full either. Williamson goes back again, that gap at point screaming, but again he makes a late decision that this is not short enough to cut. And he defends with a straight bat again. Eight off 21 now. The third ball of the over is defended off the front foot, the fourth stays low and nearly defeats the pull.

On 8 off 23, Williamson has to be thinking runs too, especially after the momentum provided by the opening stand of 118 and with a quick outfield on offer. You can't let India spinners bowl wherever they want to, because then you will be on nothing when on eventually gets you. Williamson, though, clearly remembers his dismissal in Kanpur where he had gone after a similar temptation and was done in by a more spiteful pitch. That ball had turned back with a puff of dust to hit Williamson's stumps. You want the runs, you need the runs, but you must watch out against falling into that trap.

The fifth ball of this over is again not full, but not too short; it lands in the same spot as the one that got Williamson in Kanpur. Williamson's first instinct is to press forward here, but he finally gives in to the temptation. Perhaps he thinks this pitch is not turning as much as Kanpur, which makes him think he can pull off that daring shot. Graeme Swann once compared cutting an offspinner to patting a burning dog.

Ashwin's fields and his accuracy, coupled with the odd trick from the pitch, have made sure here that Williamson has to pat a burning dog if he wants to release the pressure. After Williamson has let two of them go by, the third one burns his fingers. It turns back more than he expects it to again, hits the high part of the bat, and goes on to the stumps. The look on Williamson's face is of a man who knew he had bitten the forbidden apple.

This construct for the wicket is a continuation of the hide and seek between Ashwin and New Zealand's best batsman. It's a shame Williamson missed the middle Test, for that would have added to the body of work that constitutes this story. Ashwin has got Williamson all three times he has batted in this series, all three times off the back foot, but Williamson, too, has played some cracking shots. Without looking frenetic, Williamson has managed to score 54 runs from 58 Ashwin deliveries. But leaving Williamson without too many scoring options other than in the off side off the back foot has been one of Ashwin's big moves.

With other batsmen, at times, Ashwin has bowled with 7-2 fields, leaving even the cover open, but with Williamson he has not been too adventurous. He has shown him enough respect, and has given him only the cut shot. Williamson has played 15 of the 58 balls from Ashwin into the off side. Nine of those 15 have been off the back foot, but only five of those nine have brought him runs. Only one of them has been a proper cut to a loose ball. Others have not been cutting length so they have been either punches through cover or dabs behind square.

Ashwin remembers Williamson from his previous tour to India as someone who has a tendency to lunge. Ashwin remembers that dismissal from Bangalore in 2012-13 when Williamson lunged forward and nicked to slip. "I come into a series with a plan, especially taking off from where Kane Williamson got out in Bangalore when they came here last time," Ashwin said. "He lunged forward and got out at slips. So he just lunges outside the off stump, so that's one of the things I thought I would repeat in this series."

This bowling - not the usual length that Ashwin bowls - to Williamson perhaps points to keeping the ball out of reach when Williamson lunges forward. If he still manages to drive there is a fielder at cover. Most of Williamson's runs against Ashwin have come from either the sweep or the punch off the back foot. That temptation to go to point, though, is always there when the bowler pitches it short of a length. As Williamson has found out on three occasions now, it hasn't been short enough.