It felt as though the Indian team had regained their lost confidence after two disappointing days of cricket when Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant took to the crease with some decisive play on the day 4 of the first Test match, against India in Bengaluru. Where the entire day one had to be abandoned because of incessant rains, India were skittled out for a mere 46 runs in the 1st innings. They then gave away a lead of 356 runs with New Zealand making 402 runs in their first innings. India made 231 runs on Day 3, but then lost a set Virat Kohli on the very last ball. All focus was on the fourth day’s first session, and Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan lived up to the expectations
Sarfaraz conquered his maiden Test century and shared an unbeaten 50-run partnership with Pant in the first session. While the duo had just settled down, a terrible misunderstanding in between almost caused the partnership to come to an end. Sarfaraz was seething with anger when he saw that Pant was already taking a second run with the New Zealand wicket keeper, Tum Blundell, dangerously close to the stumps while holding the ball. Indian captain Rohit Sharma along with Ravichandran Ashwin were shocked at the actions taking place in the center. They then began to laugh as well after the situation resolved itself well for India.
Day three of the first Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru saw India struggling with a deficit of 125 runs owing to the late dismissal of Virat Kohli. Of Kuldeep Yadav, who spoke at the end of the day, he was not overly surprised about the run rate being as high as it was, given that it was a day where the pitch did not help the spinners at all. In reply to India’s first innings total of 46, New Zealand scored 402 runs with a brilliant century by Rachin Ravindra and a counter-attacking fifty by Tim Southee.
Day 3 concluded when Glenn Phillips got rid of Kohli for 70, thus ending a vital 136-run stand along with Sarfaraz Khan. Back to the Day 4 planning, Kuldeep spoke about the need to take it session by session strategy.
“It’s tough to control runs here. There wasn’t much turn yesterday, possibly due to the pitch being a bit damp. Without significant turn or rough patches, especially at this ground with its short boundaries, even good deliveries can be scored off,” Kuldeep said at the post-day press conference.
“New Zealand deserved credit, they indeed played superbly. Tomorrow, we have to bat well. Today, we had a good start, but we still need to make up 125 runs. We have to take it session by session,” he added
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