India whittled down the deficit to 12 to make likely the delicious prospect of bowling last to under-pressure batters
Sarfaraz Khan celebrates his century with Rishabh Pant • Associated Press
India 46 and 344 for 3 (Sarfaraz 125*, Pant 53*) trail New Zealand 402 by 12 runs
India’s march back from 46 all out continued at a startling rate as Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant added 113 unbeaten runs in the 22 overs possible before lunch. India were now just 12 runs behind New Zealand and had seven wickets in hand with the delicious prospect of bowling last to under-pressure batters.
Sarfaraz late-cut his way to his maiden Test century, and Pant, coming back from the injury to his surgically repaired knee from a life-threatening accident, stroked his way to an unbeaten half-century. Put together, the two were a right menace for captain, Tom Latham. They had little regard for the field-sets, showed no fear of making mistakes, and the New Zealand bowlers again failed to provide Latham any control. The biggest disappointment was Ajaz Patel, who turned the ball less than the part-timer Rachin Ravindra, who bowled just one over before rain cut the session short.
India’s response to wickets on day three had been to counterattack immediately, but that was going to be put to test after they lost Virat Kohli to the last ball of the day’s play. Sarfaraz only took six balls to bring back his cheekiness: a nonchalant ramp off Will O’Rourke’s first ball of the day. When they reinforced the field with a deep third and a deep point, Sarfaraz still bisected them.
It seemed the seam bowlers wanted to trap Sarfaraz lbw, but that only kept giving him easy singles on the leg side. When the keeper came up to the stumps, Pant rooted to the crease, and the visitors were rewarded with an edge but the dying pitch didn’t have enough in it to make it carry. Just in the eighth over of the day, Sarfaraz punched Southee to deep cover for what would have been a single for any other batter, but he had sent all the fielders back with his late-cuts. The boundary brought up an emotional hundred.
Pant was only just warming up. Ajaz got one to kick at him from the rough, but the glove absorbed a lot of the impact and the ball went straight down. He now decided he had to attack, and lofted Southee for a straight six from inside his crease. In one dramatic Ajaz over, he hit two sixes to go past Kapil Dev’s tally of 61 sixes. Only five Indian men are ahead of him now. Then he survived an inside edge and an outside edge in the same over. The inside one saved him from lbw, and his back pad denied New Zealand a catch off the outside edge. Pant still managed to hit one more four in the over, India’s 47th boundary, more than the runs they scored in the first innings.
Apart from Southee, Glenn Phillips was the only one who could provide New Zealand some control, but he, too, bowled a full toss to take Pant to his half-century. New Zealand drew just the 25 mistakes in 22 overs, which is not high considering the attacking approach. At any rate, they had lost the right to have attacking fielders to capitalise on these mistakes. Also the edges were not carrying.
The only time New Zealand came to a wicket was a run-out opportunity at Pant’s end but Tom Blundell reprieved him for the second time in the match by leaving his base to collect a wide throw, seemingly unaware of the opportunity at his end. Pant’s score was only six then.
The rain came as a relief for New Zealand half an hour before the scheduled lunch break. Lunch was eventually taken at 11.20am, ten minutes before usual.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
