India’s Batting Dominance Crumbles as New Zealand Eyes Historic Test Win on Day 5
India collapses after Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant’s 177-run stand, leaving New Zealand just 107 runs away from their first Test win in India in 36 years.
In an exciting display of test cricket, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant’s outstanding partnership caused India’s batting lineup to crumble, leaving New Zealand needing just 107 runs to win in history. India lost 7 wickets for just 54 runs despite the pair’s valiant effort, putting New Zealand on course for their first Test victory in India since 1988.
Key Performances and Match Scorecard
New Zealand 402 and 0 for 0 need 107 runs to beat India 46 and 462 (Sarfaraz 150, Pant 99, Kohli 70, Rohit 52, O’Rourke 3-92, Henry 3-102, Ajaz 2-100)
Match Analysis
Test cricket was at its best as India, spearheaded by the sly Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant, dared to dream big and attempt the unimaginable. To win their first Test match in India in 36 years, New Zealand had to score 107 runs when the second new ball took seven wickets for 62 runs. That, incidentally, is the lowest target that India has ever successfully defended, although it was back in 2004–05 on a rank turner in Mumbai.
This was cricket without any finesse, a Test match. Sarfaraz and Pant, who put on 177 in 35.1 overs, put tremendous pressure on the bowlers as India attempted to become just the second team to win a Test after a sub-50 opening fifty overs. When the second fresh ball began to nip around, the same strategy led to a collapse.
It was a high-variability Test match. India achieved 400 for 3 in 80 overs in between losing 17 wickets for 108 runs to the first and third new balls.
The second new ball was New Zealand’s very last chance due to India’s rapid rate of scoring. The most they could have hoped for was a draw if they had been unable to do any damage with the new ball. Considering how they had been hammered and rendered useless for eighty overs, their ability to storm back into the game was impressive.
They drew 43 false shots from India in less than 20 overs, compared to just 72 in the first 80 overs. A large portion of it was due to Sarfaraz swinging his bat in an attempt to smash the new ball, but who would doubt that strategy when he scored 150 with an equally disdainful display of bowling?
Pant attempted to bat his way out, gloving a sweep off Tim Southee and slog-sweeping him out of the stadium. However, on 99, he was dismissed for the seventh time in the nineties, adding six hundreds to his record. Pant then played on the 6’6″ Will O’Rourke with the replacement ball.
With the fresh ball, O’Rourke was ferocious at one point, scoring three, three, three, but Matt Henry found the perfect seam to remove the final three. It demonstrated just how much behind you may fall when you are bowled out for 46. On day three, Sarfaraz and Pant continued from the 231 for 3, surpassing the previous record in progress. During the Under-19 World Cup, they were exciting and creative teammates.
Out of his sixteen hundreds, Sarfaraz achieved his eleventh first-class score of 150 or more when he converted his first Test century to a 150. He was matched in boldness by Pant, who missed keeping duties due to a knock on his surgically repaired knee following a near-fatal car accident. But when he neared the hundred, his sprinting hindered him, turning at least two pairs into singles. Glancing up at the sky wistfully, he walked back.
While Sarfaraz maneuvered around the wicket, playing with late cuts and ramps, Pant slog-swept the fast bowlers and struck them past mid-off. With five sixes, he moved up to sixth place among India’s best six-hitters in Test matches, surpassing even Kapil Dev.
The only time New Zealand was near to a wicket before the new ball arrived was when Pant had a run-out opportunity. However, Tom Blundell, who appeared to be oblivious of the opportunity, saved Pant’s blushes by leaving his base to take a wide throw. This was Pant’s second reprieve of the match. Pant was just on a 6.
Sarfaraz showed his cheekiness with a nonchalant ramp off O’Rourke’s opening delivery of the day, but Pant took some time to get into the innings, scoring 12 off the first 24 balls he faced. Sarfaraz still divided them even after they added a deep third and a deep point to fortify the field.
Pant soon followed him. They were careless with the field-sets, unafraid to make errors, and once more the bowlers from New Zealand gave Tom Latham no leverage. Ajaz Patel was the biggest letdown as he turned the ball less often than Rachin Ravindra, the part-timer.
Seam bowlers appeared to be trying to trap Sarfaraz leg before wicket, but all they were able to do was give him leg side easy singles. The visitors were rewarded with a lead when the keeper approached the stumps to force Pant to the crease, but there wasn’t enough left in the dying pitch for it to matter. However, he soon lofted Southee for a six back over his head from the crease.
Sarfaraz sent all the fielders elsewhere with his late-cuts, but in the eighth over of the day, he smacked Southee to deep cover for what would have been a single for any other batter. The border evoked a hundred strong emotions.
The ball fell straight down when Ajaz kicked it from the rough at Pant because the glove took up most of the blow. For now, he felt that he had to attack. He smacked two sixes in a spectacular Ajaz over. Subsequently, he managed to withstand both an inside and an outside edge in one over. He was spared an LBW by the inside one, and his back pad stopped a catch off the outside edge for New Zealand. Even so, Pant smashed one more four in the over, marking India’s 47th boundary and surpassing their total for the first innings.
They were somewhat relieved by a drizzle, but India continued to attack before the new ball, increasing their run rate to five per over. Initially, it seemed like New Zealand had tried every possibility to create the conditions necessary to dismiss India for 46 runs and remove Rohit Sharma from the game in the second half. For the time being, everything has just begun to fall safe or go beyond the bat.
Before Sarfaraz could eventually lob one to cover as the ball sailed away from him, he had to withstand seven different types of fake shots. Uncomfortable with the new ball, Pant attempted a sweep before slamming the slog-swept six to send the score into the nineties.
Following him was O’Rourke, who had been cranked up for the morning’s four first balls. This time, the audience was silenced when his initial ball nipped back and kicked at Pant, taking the deadly bottom edge. KL Rahul’s additional bounce and seam movement away were important factors. Subsequently, one gradually emerged to seize the tip of a Ravindra Jadeja pull.
Henry kept the score low by bowling an uninterrupted ten over spell that yielded three more wickets than he had in his opening five overs. The fans of India, who had been praying for the rain to cease, had switched to wishing for biblical thunderstorms instead. However, they were not happy when India was forced to leave early due to terrible light, which eventually developed into a powerful storm. Under artificial lighting, India was expecting for some damage as the new ball moved.
