IND vs NZ, 1st Test: Rain gods, Sarfaraz-Pant alliance leave India hopeful after roller-coaster penultimate day

India, riding high on the partnership between Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan, went from initially setting up a historic win to staring at a 36-year low against New Zealand on Saturday.

After facing four balls and surviving a leg-before shout, the Kiwi openers were unscathed as a heavy downpour brought the curtains on the day’s play.   | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar/The Hindu

On a day when fortunes fluctuated and the weather ebbed and flowed, the longest format of the game became an enduring metaphor, for life and its second chances, as India went from setting up a historic win to staring at a 36-year low against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Under grey skies, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant struck an alliance of incandescence that dispelled the overnight gloom of crowd favourite Virat Kohli’s last-ball dismissal on Friday.

With a 356-run first-innings deficit erased and the duo looking poised to make capital of a burgeoning lead, the visiting pacers sniffed a chance with the second new ball and didn’t lose the scent, nabbing seven wickets for 54 runs to leave their batters with a straightforward 107-run target on the final day.

RELATED: What is the lowest score India has defended in Tests?

After facing four balls and surviving a leg-before shout, the Kiwi openers were unscathed as a heavy downpour brought the curtains on the day’s play.

New Zealand’s captain Tom Latham and Devon Conway return to the pavilion after bad light stopped play on the fourth day. | Photo Credit: PTI

Had India built towards a significant lead, it could have reset the record for overturning the biggest first-innings lead in a winning cause, but instead it was left with the looming inevitability of a maiden Test defeat to the Kiwis at home since 1988.

The visitors were given a lease of life with the new cherry, and Sarfaraz was jittery against it at the outset – swinging without success outside off-stump and also missing his prototypical late cut owing to extra bounce.

Right after completing his 150 off 194 balls, he holed out at cover with the bat turning in his hand for the second time in the match.

William O’Rourke was plundered for 14 runs in two overs, but he struck off his first ball with the second new ball, forcing Pant onto his toes and cleaning him up on 99.

A hush descended over the proceedings and KL Rahul sank to his knees at the non-striker’s end as an impassive Pant trudged to the dugout, a solitary run short of the record for the most hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.

New Zealand players celebrate the wicket of Pant, who fell agonisingly short of his century on Day 4 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar/The Hindu

For all the aesthetics of an exquisite late dab and a skilful on-drive, Rahul failed to take his bat away in time and got an edge to the wicketkeeper. By Tea, India’s resolve was dwindling, and somewhere in the crowd, an invocation to the rain gods was heard.

Like in the first innings, veteran Tim Southee showed the way by drawing first blood on Saturday, before O’Rourke and Matt Henry took over to dismantle the rest and make India revisit its old ghosts of the new ball.

However, the morning was about fresh beginnings, as a strapped-up Pant, who didn’t keep wickets after taking a hit on his kneecap on Thursday, strode out gingerly with Sarfaraz.

The late cut was unsheathed with abandon early on as Sarfaraz’s first five boundaries of the day came behind square on the off-side as the 26-year-old flipped the conventional ‘V’, much like his fate, to pepper the region from deep point to third-man, leaving O’Rourke and Henry exasperated. As many as 48 of his first 100 runs came in that region.

Undeterred by a catching gully, Sarfaraz oozed confidence in his cheekiness before betraying a moment of desperation when he animatedly hopped across the pitch at the non-striker’s end, signalling to Pant to abort a second run.

He shelved the late cut and punched to the cover boundary to complete his maiden Test century, breaking into a run from his crease to where the fielder would have stood at point and then sank into Pant’s arms.

Sarfaraz is greeted by Pant after he scores his century at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar/The Hindu

After a brief struggle, Pant also found his bearings. With the wicketkeeper standing up to Henry, Pant was forced to stay in his crease, and he would have had his heart in his mouth when his biff just cleared a leaping mid-on.

He soon made peace with his confinement, clearing the long-off boundary with ease before hanging back and opening the face with a loose bottom hand for a four past gully.

Pant also had an iffy start against spin, miscuing a sweep off Ajaz Patel and taking his time to contend with the extra bounce. But the left-arm spinner played into the match-up eventually, as Pant tonked Ajaz for two sixes in three balls before surviving two appeals for leg-before in the same over.

Sarfaraz and Pant brought up their 100-run stand, off just 120 balls, and maintained the momentum despite a three-hour rain interruption.

On the other hand, New Zealand burned two reviews on a fidgety yet assured Pant, while Sarfaraz continued to explore his range, even perfecting the paddle sweep in a span of two balls off Glenn Phillips.

The duo cruised at over five runs an over during their 177-run partnership and the Kiwis’ frustration mounted, even leading to an out-of-character overthrow, from midwicket past the slip fielder.

Sarfaraz and Pant in action on Day 4 of the first Test between India and New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar/The Hindu

But they came into their own, with the second new ball throwing them another chance.

Sarfaraz, who overcame the vagaries of national team selection and rose through the grind of domestic cricket, and Pant, who battled through a bandaged knee on Saturday after a remarkable recovery from a life-threatening mishap two years ago, are both privy to comebacks and redemption arcs and made sure India made amends after the ignominy of the first innings.

However, though both teams staged comebacks through second lifelines on Saturday, one of them will know that, perhaps, a third chance is too much to ask for, especially over five days, though the Bengaluru rain could still broker a stalemate.