An enthralling day of Test cricket ensued at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru today, as Sarfaraz Khan and Virat Kohli chipped away at the mountainous 356-run lead after skipper Rohit Sharma’s spirited fifty against New Zealand, ending Day 3 of the first Test 231/3 on Friday.
New Zealand were bundled out for 402 in their first innings early into the second session with centurion Rachin Ravindra and veteran pacer Tim Southee nothcing up a 134-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Resuming the day from 180 for three, New Zealand might have hoped to build considerably on the advantage but the spirited Indian bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja (3/72) took some early wickets to reduce them to 233 for seven, after which the onslaught followed from Ravindra.
Ravindra upped the tempo through a breezy century filled with eye-catching 13 fours and 4 sixes. The 21-year-old’s century was his second in Test cricket, having scored his maiden hundred against South Africa earlier this year.
Needing a strong start with the bat, Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma delivered, playing confident drives and drawing up a fifty partnership at ease.
Then, it would be spinner Ajaz Patel, who would turn the tide around for NZ again, as he removed Jaiswal to break the stand.
But skipper Rohit continued to wreak havoc, going on the offensive as he walloped consecutive boundaries off Matt Henry to reach his 18th Test fifty.
Then, with Ajaz back in the attack with the ball, Rohit prodded forward and defended off the inner half, and right when he thought he’d played a solid forward defence, the ball ran off the face and bumped into the stumps as the Indian skipper was now forced to leave the crease after playing himself onto the stumps.
Having lost out on the momentum, it was now down to Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan to steer India to clear waters again. Steer they did, as the duo amped up the scoring, with the young Sarfaraz playing his natural attacking game and Kohli complementing the same with controlled aggresion of his own.
Both batters would notch fifties of their own, and would inherently also bring up a thrilling 100-run stand, as New Zealand were clutching at all straws to find a breakthrough again.
Finally, Kohli, who crossed a landmark 9000 Test runs with his innings today, was dismissed with the last ball of the day from spinner Glenn Phillips and stumps were called right after his dismissal.
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