New Zealand celebrates the wicket of Mohd Siraj on day four. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand celebrates the wicket of Mohd Siraj on day four. Photo / Photosport
Just when an enthralling test seemed heading for the same old result, a new ball breathed life into the Black Caps and left history within reach.
The tourists had been threatening to squander a position of supremacy midway through the fourth day of the first test. More accurately, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant had been threatening to bat them out of the match.
But after suffering through 24 hours of angst and agony, a shiny new toy was exactly the salve they required.
In the space of 15 overs, with Will O’Rourke and Matt Henry again taking command, India were helpless to prevent their second innings crumbling from 408-3 to 462 all out.
It had seemed inevitable New Zealand would be tasked with an onerous chase on an aging surface against one of the world’s best attacks. Instead, after facing four balls without score before rain curtailed play, they will begin the final day needing 107 runs to win their first test in India since 1988.
New Zealand celebrates the wicket of Mohd Siraj on day four. Photo / Photosport
And what a win it would be. From rolling the hosts for 46 to racking up 462 to watching that 356-run lead somehow disappear, the swings of this match will live long in the memory of all inside M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
For the majority of day four, those memories were to be soundtracked by roars of delight. All of a sudden, after the latest wild turn, all the noise was replaced by an equally palpable silence.
The carnage wasn’t quite so severe as the opening day, when Henry and O’Rourke shared nine wickets while dismissing India for their lowest home score in test history. But there were certainly parallels.
Both slides were started by a breakthrough from Tim Southee, in this case the crucial wicket of a previously unstoppable Sarfaraz. Both were then marked by the bounce of O’Rourke (3-92) and accuracy of Henry (3-102). And both had the Black Caps sensing a third win from 37 tests in India.
Seven of their last eight attempts had ended in defeat and Sarfaraz and Pant began intent on inflicting another, an overnight 125-run deficit almost erased by lunch against a flat attack failing to impose any pressure.
It took an hour for New Zealand to send down their first maiden of the morning. Gone was the exemplary touring outfit that did everything right during the first-innings blitz, replaced by a sloppy unit plagued by lapses in ground fielding and a botched runout chance.
Sarfaraz (150) and Pant (99) hardly needed the help – the former an age-group phenom with a first-class triple-century to his name; the latter an electric wicketkeeper inclined to attack no matter the format.
Sarfaraz Khan celebrates his maiden test hundred. Photo / Photosport
Their circumstances might have made it an unexpected match-changing partnership, with Sarfaraz playing only his fourth test while Pant had been unable to field following a knock to the knee surgically repaired following a near-fatal car accident in 2022. But batting together they were emphatic.
One expansive blow at a time, the pair edged their side ahead and just kept plundering, combining for 27 fours and eight sixes during a 177-run stand from 211 balls.
Tom Latham’s team were searching for a way back into a match that had so recently controlled, and after 80 overs one duly arrived.
At last, the boundaries dried up, five barren overs. Sarfaraz – perhaps frustrated, perhaps fatigued – reached 150 and next ball miscued a loose drive of Southee.
One hurdle remained before the fightback could truly begin, though. Pant responded to his partner’s departure by hitting Southee out of the stadium, Latham replied by introducing O’Rourke, and facing a batter who had ramped his first ball of the day to the fence, the 23-year-old immediately earned revenge.
A listless punch sending the ball onto his stumps, India were essentially 77-5 and the tail was in sight. If the first two wickets owed much to tired shots from weary batters, the third was all about O’Rourke setting up KL Rahul to have him nick behind.
On the other side of the tea break, the seamer dropped one short to Ravindra Jadeja, whose pull went straight to square leg and left one more key wicket to claim.
Enter Henry, nipping one back into Ravichandran Ashwin and striking the top of the allrounder’s pad. The celebrations greeting DRS confirmation of Henry’s successful shout spoke to the importance of the moment.
A test that had almost slipped away was now back in the Black Caps’ grasp, along with a result not recorded for 36 years.
