Bengaluru: Sarfaraz Khan (150) and Rishabh Pant (99) raised hopes of a miracle with a dazzling counter-attack on the fourth day of the opening Test against New Zealand. But once their exhilarating 177-run partnership was broken, the home team crumbled to the second new ball after a prolonged rain break here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. New Zealand are looking for their first Test win in India since 1988.
India lost seven wickets for 54 runs to be all out for 462 in the second innings. That set New Zealand a target of 107 runs to take the lead in the three-Test series.
The openers faced four balls from Jasprit Bumrah before the umpires stopped play for the day due to insufficient light, much to the dismay of Rohit Sharma and his teammates who were looking for some early wickets.
It’s advantage New Zealand now, thanks to fine bursts by pacers William O’Rourke and Matt Henry, after veteran Tim Southee gave them the crucial breakthrough with the wicket of Sarfaraz.
But the visitors, despite earning a massive 356-run first-innings lead, were given a big scare by the right-left combination of Sarfaraz and Pant, who scored at a quick pace as they threatened to erase the deficit and take the game away from the Kiwis.
The stocky right-hander resumed Day 4 on 70 and continued to play merrily and with great freedom, particularly square on the off side. Besides teasing the fielders with delicate placements, Sarfaraz played a cheeky ramp shot over the wicketkeeper’s head to a shortish ball from Henry.
He brought up his maiden Test century with a fluent push to the extra cover fence and launched into an uninhibited celebration. The 26-year-old Sarfaraz, who has scored tons of runs in domestic cricket including multiple big hundreds, cruised to 150 off 195 balls (18×4, 3×6) before an attempted lofted drive ended up in the hands of cover point fielder Ajaz Ahmed.
At the other end, Pant played second fiddle in the opening session and still maintained a fine strike rate. After play resumed post the rain interruption, the aggressive left-hander with a style of his own upped the tempo.
He raced to 99 off 104 balls, with 9 fours and 5 sixes, before the extra bounce generated by 6-ft-6-inch O’Rourke forced him to play the ball onto his stumps.
It was the seventh time Pant had been dismissed in the nineties. KL Rahul was done in by a superb away-swinger from O’Rourke. Allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin failed to stitch together a meaningful partnership, and the innings folded up soon after.
Brief Scores: India 1st innings: 46 | New Zealand 1st innings: 402 | India 2nd innings: 462 (Sarfaraz Khan 150, Rishabh Pant 99; William O’Rourke 3/99, Matt Henry 3/102) | New Zealand 2nd innings: 0/0 | Target: 107 runs | Match to continue on fifth and final day.