Mumbai boy Sarfaraz’s gritty 150 and Pant’s 99 in pain help India score 462 to have a fighting chance to defend 107 on Day Five
Sarfaraz Khan is ecstatic after scoring his maiden Test century in Bangalore on Saturday. Pic/PTI
Day four of India’s first Test against New Zealand was dominated by four individuals, two from either side. Sarfaraz Khan, with his maiden hundred, and Rishabh Pant, desperately unlucky to miss his seventh ton by the narrowest of margins, sent the Kiwis on a leatherhunt on a Saturday of two halves before Matt Henry and William O’Rourke used the second new ball to telling effect at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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India lose 7 wickets for 54
A game that seemed to be drifting away from the visitors despite a first-innings advantage of 356 swung almost decisively back New Zealand’s way with Henry and O’Rourke both taking three wickets apiece in extended spells that sent India plummeting from 408-3 to 462 all out. The loss of seven wickets for 54 runs in 94 deliveries meant India could only set the Kiwis a target of 107 when plenty more appeared for the taking during a rip-roaring fourth-wicket stand of 177 between Sarfaraz and Pant. New Zealand had seen off four deliveries when first bad light and then rain halted proceedings, setting up what promises to be an absorbing final morning.
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Rishabh Pant hits one for a six on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
One of the more encouraging sights for the several thousands who turned up at the Chinnaswamy was Pant walking out alongside Sarfaraz at the start of play. The wicketkeeper had left the field on Thursday after sustaining a terrible blow to the inside of his right knee, and while he didn’t come out to keep wickets in New Zealand’s second innings either, he was game enough to brave pain in a bid to extend India’s fight from their overnight 231-3.
Using aggression as their driving force, Sarfaraz and Pant set about the bowling in contrasting fashions. New Zealand’s quicks kept bowling short to Sarfaraz and he kept cutting and ramping and dabbing them away for boundaries despite a packed field behind square on the off-side. Pant, meanwhile, took a shine to left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel, scattering the fans in the stands beyond long-on with frenetic ball-bashing as the scoreboard rattled along at five to the over.
New ball effect
Not even a 169-minute stoppage for play, by which time Sarfaraz had raised a memorable first Test ton and Pant raced past fifty, affected their march, but once Tom Latham took the second new ball after 80 overs with India on an even 400, the match turned on its head. Perhaps he lost concentration, perhaps he saw an opportunity to lay into a new cherry, but Sarfaraz attempted one outrageous stroke too many and unsurprisingly holed out to cover off seasoned pro Tim Southee. That set the cat among the pigeons. As happens after a long stand, one wicket often brings two and a few minutes later, to the great consternation of everyone at the ground, Pant chopped O’Rourke’s first ball with the second new orb on to his stumps. His bruising 99 meant he now has more 90s (seven) than centuries.
It was all downhill from there, India barely managing to extend their lead beyond 100 before Henry applied the finishing touches. Advantage New Zealand, clearly, but take nothing for granted.
7
No. of times Rishabh Pant has been dismissed in the nineties
Brief scores
India 46 & 462 (S Khan 150, R Pant 99; W O’Rourke 3-92, M Henry 3-102, A Patel 2-100) v New Zealand 402 & 0-0
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