BENGALURU: India hit back with a batting blitz after New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra struck 134 to guide the visitors to a lead of 356 on day three of the rain-hit opening Test on Friday.

The hosts were 231-3 at stumps and still trailed the Black Caps by 125 runs after Glenn Phillips got Virat Kohli caught behind for 70 on the last ball of the day in Bengaluru.

Kohli, who unsuccessfully revi­ewed his dismissal, put on a stand of 136 with Sarfaraz Khan, who was still batting on 70.

“Important for us to hold our lines and lengths and do that for long periods like Test cricket is,” Ravindra told reporters. “The wicket of Virat was very massive and hopefully we stick at it... in the morning.”

Sarfaraz raced to his fifty in 42 balls but the crowd erupted when senior partner Kohli got his half ton at his adopted home ground of IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Kohli soon passed 9,000 Test runs, only the fourth Indian to reach the landmark after Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).

Spinner Ajaz Patel removed the Ind­ian openers after a strong start to the innings when Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit Sharma put on 72 runs.

Jaiswal made 35 before the left-hander danced down the track in his attempt to hit Patel and got stumped by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell.

Rohit smashed Matt Henry for four, six and four to raise his fifty but soon played a delivery by Patel onto his stumps and was out for 52.

Number three Kohli had a nervy start and got his first runs after 14 balls but eventually found his gro­ove, smashing eight fours and a six.

The veteran batsman was handed a lifeline when Ajaz Patel dropped him at slip in the evening and although he failed to make the most of the repri­e­ve, India will hope to shrug off the late disappointment when they return to the wicket on Saturday morning.

“We hope to make a good start tom­o­rrow and take it session by session,” spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who claimed 3-99 to dismiss the tourists, told repor­ters. “We’re still 125 runs behind but we expect it will be a good day for us.”

But the day’s star remained batting all-rounder Ravindra, who smashed his second Test ton and was the last Kiwi to fall in the tourists’ first innings total of 402.

Born in Wellington to parents hailing from the south Indian city of Bengaluru, Ravindra, whose father was in the crowd, said the familiarity helped him in his knock.

“It was obviously special having my dad in the crowd. It’s massive. A lot of family were watching the game, probably at the stadium and at home on TV,” Ravindra said.

“I know they’re very proud and it makes me happy that they were able to watch a relative play in their hometown. It’s just very cool. I know dad and mum will be very proud. I’m 100% Kiwi but it’s nice to have that Indian heritage, based here in Bengaluru.”

Ravindra resumed on his overnight score of 22 and raised his century with a boundary off Ravic­handran Ashwin before lunch. He hit 13 fours and four sixes, and forged a 137-run partnership with Tim Southee, who smashed 65 with five fours and four sixes, for the eighth wicket as the pair heaped more misery on India.

The hosts had been bowled out for a paltry 46 in the first innings, their worst total on home soil, as New Zealand’s fast bowlers dazzled on a gloomy Thursday morning after the opening day was washed out without a ball being bowled.

Daryl Mitchell departed for 18 on Friday morning, finding Jaiswal at gully with a careless shot against Mohammed Siraj, while Jasprit Bumrah had Blundell (5) caught at slip by K.L. Rahul as sustained pressure by the two pacers paid off.

The duo beat the bat on numerous occasions in the opening hour but it was the introduction of spin that troubled the Black Caps, Ravindra Jadeja (3-72) shattering the stumps of Phillips (14) to leave them on 223-6.

Matt Henry (8) perished in a similar manner after smashing a couple of boundaries as Jadeja claimed his third wicket, but New Zealand steadily clawed their way back from there.

Southee eventually fell to Siraj shortly after lunch, but the former captain had already done plenty of before the innings came to an end when Yadav struck twice.

After trapping Patel lbw, the leg-spinner conceded a six to Ravindra that took New Zealand past 400 runs, before he had the left-hander caught as he attempted another big one.

“It was tough to control runs on this wicket, because even the good balls were being hit for runs,” said Kuldeep.

India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant remained off the field after he injured his knee on Thursday, with Dhruv Jurel substituted.

It was the same knee Pant hurt in a serious car crash in December 2022 that forced him out of action for more than a year.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1st Innings) 46 (R. Pant 20; M. Henry 5-15, W. O’Rourke 4-22)

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 180-3):

T. Latham lbw Yadav 15

D. Conway b Ashwin 91

W. Young c Yadav b Jadeja 33

R. Ravindra c (sub) b Yadav 134

D. Mitchell c Jaiswal b Siraj 18

T. Blundell c Rahul b Bumrah 5

G. Phillips b Jadeja 14

M. Henry b Jadeja 8

T. Southee c Jadeja b Siraj 65

A. Patel lbw Yadav 4

W. O’Rourke not out 0

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-4, W-2, NB-1) 15

TOTAL (all out, 91.3 overs) 402

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-67 (Latham), 2-142 (Young), 3-154 (Conway), 4-193 (Mitchell), 5-204 (Blundell), 6-223 (Phillips), 7-233 (Henry), 8-370 (Southee), 9-384 (Patel)

BOWLING: Bumrah 19-7-41-1 (1nb), Siraj 18-2-84-2, Ashwin 16-1-94-1, Yadav 18.3-1-99-3 (2w), Jadeja 20-1-72-3

INDIA: (2nd Innings):

Y. Jaiswal st Blundell b Patel 35

R. Sharma b Patel 52

V. Kohli c Blundell b Phillips 70

S. Khan not out 70

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-1) 4

TOTAL (for three wickets, 49 overs) 231

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-72 (Jaiswal), 2-95 (Sharma), 3-231 (Kohli)

STILL TO BAT: K.L. Rahul, R. Pant, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, K. Yadav, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj

BOWLING: Southee 7-1-22-0, Henry 11-1-52-0 (1nb), O’Rourke 11-1-48-0, Patel 12-2-70-2, Phillips 8-1-36-1

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024