Despite a troubled knee Rishabh Pant threw the kitchen sink at the ball every chance he got en route to his 99 on the fourth day of the opening Test at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Credit: DH Photo/ S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: To understand the magnitude of India's task on the final day of the opening Test, you have to travel 137 years back in time. Between January 28 and 31 in 1887, England pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in the history of Test cricket by posting a 13-run win over Australia in the Ashes after being bowled out for 45 in the first innings. There have been 12 instances of a team folding up below 50 in its first innings but this is the only occasion of a team winning a Test after being restricted to a sub-50 total.
Apart from history heavily loaded against India, what compounds their challenge is the fact that New Zealand built a massive 364-run lead after dismissing the hosts for 46. India did atone for that disastrous show by staging a remarkable fightback with the bat in the second innings. Powered by Sarfaraz Khan's maiden Test hundred (150, 195b, 291m, 18x4, 3x6) and Rishabh Pant's 99 (105b, 191m, 9x4, 5x6), India, overnight 231/3, motored along as the left-right combination put on an entertaining show en route to a 177-run stand (211 balls) for the fourth wicket.
However, their departure in the space of 25 runs, after the new ball had been summoned, derailed India's innings as they were bowled out for 462 here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
India's second innings total was 416 runs more than their first innings score, yet New Zealand are now left with only a 107-run target on Sunday to take lead in the three-Test series. Though 21 overs were left for the day, the visitors could face only four balls before bad light ended the penultimate day's play after proceedings were curtailed for 99 minutes in the morning due to rain.
Irrespective of how this match finishes, though, it will go down as one of the greatest Tests to ever have been played. Few could have given India a chance to come back in the way they did after collapsing for 46. And fewer could have given them a glimmer of a hope after New Zealand posted a 450-plus total in reply.
Pant's pyrotechnics and Sarfaraz's cheeky play made for a deadly cocktail as New Zealand bowlers copped heavy punishment. Where Sarfaraz entertained a huge weekend crowd with typical cuts and late dabs, Pant set the stadium afire with his pulls, flicks and pick-up shots. On a pitch, where neither the pacers looked effective nor the spinners could exercise any control, two of the most exciting batters in the world today put the Kiwi attack under immense pressure.
Sarfaraz, whose backfoot punches were the standout shots, brought up his maiden century and went on to make it a big one as has been his wont while Pant once again fell in the 90s - the seventh time he has fallen perilously close to a three-figure score.
Both the batters fell after the tourists took the new ball after 84 overs. Sarfaraz, in particular, looked a bit uncomfortable against the fresh ball. Pant, after a few swings and misses, got going again but played on William O'Rourke. Usually, they say, one gets two after a big partnership but here, a procession was set in motion.
K L Rahul disappointed again while Ravindra Jadeja fell at the stroke of tea. There wasn't much resistance after that as the hosts lost seven wickets for the addition of 64 runs from a commanding 408/3.