Ravindra’s second Test ton, and his partnership with Southee, helps NZ secure mammoth lead; Rohit scores a half-century, Kohli’s late dismissal pegs back India; Sarfaraz remains unbeaten
The Indian batters served a reminder of their class on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand here on Friday. The horrors of the first essay were pushed aside as Rohit Sharma (52, 63b, 8×4, 1×6), Virat Kohli (70, 102b, 8×4, 1×6) and Sarfaraz Khan (70, 78b, 7×4, 3×6) played with freedom to take India to 231 for three.
The job is far from over — India will need to keep at it to erase the 125-run deficit. The home team will take great comfort from a drastic change in conditions. From seeing 13 wickets fall for 226 runs on day two, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch saw 453 runs being scored on Friday.
There were spells where dark clouds loomed, but the surface remained batting-friendly. There is hope yet for a miraculous Indian comeback.
Captain Rohit lived up to the team ethos of playing fearless cricket, going after pacer Matt Henry. A lazy shot to left-arm Ajaz Patel, however, cut his stint short. Kohli looked in prime touch, making confident strides forward to meet the ball in the middle of the bat.
Kohli let loose on Ajaz, stepping down the track to loft the ball into the long-off stands. In the course of his knock, Kohli became the 18th cricketer to cross 9,000 runs in Test cricket.
Kohli’s dismissal, through a faint edge, in the last ball of the day could turn out to be crucial. India would have liked Kohli to stick around for the long haul, given the uncertainty surrounding the availability of Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper, who hobbled off after sustaining a blow to the knee on the second day, did not take the field on Friday.
Sarfaraz was his usual adventurous self. An acrobatic ramp shot electrified the large crowd, with Sarfaraz leaning all the way back to send a William O’Rourke bouncer over the ’keeper. There were a couple of nervy moments as well, when Sarfaraz attempted to dab it to third-man despite the presence of a slip cordon.
The morning session belonged to Kiwi batter Rachin Ravindra, who made a sparkling 134. Ravindra’s 137-run stand for the eighth wicket with Tim Southee (65, 73b, 5×4, 4×6) gave New Zealand a 356-run innings lead.
Rachin blunted the spinners with a compact forward defence, and used the sweep only when the tweakers strayed on the pads. Rachin and Southee made up for a poor display from the middle and lower order. Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry threw away their wickets, leaving the visitor on 233 for seven.
Southee had little to no idea how to handle the spinners when he first arrived at the crease. After managing to survive through a fair share of luck, Southee wielded a powerful willow. He swung for the fences when the ball was in his arc, and made great contact. In a most unusual statistic, Southee (93 maximums) overtook former India opener Virender Sehwag (91) in the list of most number of sixes hit in Tests.
The fast bowler is now sixth in the list behind Ben Stokes (131), Brendon McCullum (107), Adam Gilchrist (100), Chris Gayle (98) and Jacques Kallis (97).