Home » Ind vs NZ: Kohli, Sarfaraz lead India’s fightback on Day 3

Ind vs NZ: Kohli, Sarfaraz lead India’s fightback on Day 3

by Sahil Jain
Kohli-Sarfaraz

It was a day where India fought back but their fight might’ve taken a little dent when they lost Virat Kohli on the final ball of the day. Skipper Rohit Sharma flung his head back in disappointment as Kohli nicked one on the very last ball of the day. Despite that India have responded well after New Zealand took a lead of 356.  

India started the day well with the bowlers pegging the Kiwis back with four quick wickets in the first hour. Daryl Mitchell edged one to gully in the 5th over of the day to give Mohammad Siraj his first wicket. Jasprit Bumrah joined the act as he got Tom Blundell edging to second slip. Ravindra Jadeja came in and struck in back-to-back overs to reduce the visitors to 233/7.  

At that stage, it seemed like India could well dismiss New Zealand early and keep the lead to somewhere around 200. However, Rachin Ravindra batted on and put on a clinical display. Once Tim Southee joined him, he attacked the spinners from time to time and kept the run flow going. The duo added 112 runs in 16.1 overs. In the process, Ravindra raised his second Test ton and second international hundred in Bangalore. Southee also raced to 49.  

Post lunch, the attack continued and Southee notched up his 7th Test fifty. It was Siraj who gave India the much-needed breakthrough as he foxed the Kiwi pacer with a slower one. However, the damage was already done as the Ravindra-Southee pair added 137 runs for the 8th wicket and it came off just 21.5 overs. 

Ravindra hit a few more lusty blows before Kuldeep Yadav managed to bag the last two wickets. That was not before New Zealand went past the 400-run mark.  

Rohit, Kohli, Sarfaraz help India stay afloat

Trailing by 356, India started solidly. Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal put away the bad balls and looked quite positive. The duo took India to 57/0 in 14 overs as India went into Tea without any loss.  

In the last session, India started aggressively again with Jaiswal and Rohit getting three boundaries in the first two overs. However, a rush of blood got the better of Jaiswal. Ajaz Patel had him stumped. Kohli once again walked in at No. 3 and looked slightly tentative at the start of his innings.  

He took 15 deliveries to get off the mark. But once he got into his groove, he looked very fluent. At the other end, Rohit started opening up as Kohli settled down. The Indian skipper hit Matt Henry for two fours and a six to bring up his half-century.  

Just when India were looking to put pressure back on New Zealand, Rohit lost his wicket against the run of play. He looked to defend a delivery from Patel which rolled back onto his stumps. He was shell-shocked, as was Kohli at the other end.  

Rohit’s dismissal brought Sarfaraz Khan to the crease who started off with a couple of crisp boundaries with hard sweeps. Sarfaraz continued the tempo while Kohli rotated the strike beautifully and found the odd boundary at the other end. He also got into the act with a six and two fours off Patel before Sarfaraz hit successive sixes as India scored at a quick rate.  

Both batters notched up half-centuries and looked in total control. The 100 of the partnership came quickly as well as they were scoring at a run-a-ball and slowly eating into the deficit. Just when India looked to end the day with just two wickets down, Kohli (70) got a faint edge to the keeper on the final ball of the day to give New Zealand some hope once again. It was the golden arm of Glenn Phillips who broke the partnership which was worth 136.

India have plenty of batting left in the shed but they will be under a bit of pressure. They still trail by 125 runs and will need to continue batting in the way they have so far if they have to gain some advantage on day four. However, they will be happy with the way they’ve batted after a torrid first innings. The Kiwis will be looking to build on this wicket of Kohli and start the fourth day well.  

Brief Scores: India 46 and 231/3 (Sarfaraz Khan 70*, Virat Kohli 70, Rohit Sharma 52, Ajaz Patel 2/70) trial New Zealand 402 allout (Rachin Ravindra 134, Devon Conway 91, Tim Southee 65, Ravindra Jadeja 3/72, Kuldeep Yadav 3/99) by 125 runs.

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