Rishabh Pant is a completely different beast when he comes in to bat in the second innings. Be it in Sydney (97) and Brisbane (89 not out) in January 2021, Cape Town (100 not out) in early 2022 or Chennai (109) last month, most of his big scores have come in the third or fourth innings of a Test.
As the Day IV proceedings began at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru on Saturday, India were still trailing by 125 then. Pant came out to bat at No.5 with his right knee well-strapped and produced a Pant-like innings (99 off 105 balls). That certainly complemented Sarfaraz Khan, who not only registered his maiden international hundred but went to score 150.
Unfortunately for both batters, the bigger names following them couldn’t build on their 177-run fourth-wicket stand heroics.
India’s last six wickets fell for only 54. From 408/3, their second innings ended at 462, giving the visitors only 107 to chase for a 1-0 lead.
Under lights, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj could have given New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway a tough time. A downpour, however, denied India’s quicks that opportunity, forcing early stumps after only four balls of the Black Caps’ second essay.
So far as Pant’s innings goes, even when not 100 per cent fit, he once again proved he shouldn’t be written off in the second innings. With Virat Kohli perishing off thefinal ball of Day III, pressure was mounting on young Sarfaraz — batting on 70 — as India’s deficit was still big enough when play resumed on Day IV.
Pant, however, took just a few balls to get his eye in. And once he did, his strokeplay and improvisation did the talking. Sarfaraz, continuing from where he had ended on Friday, remained solid and gave little room for the opposition bowlers to err as India raced towards that 356 mark.
The manner in which Sarfaraz and Pant were going, it appeared as if the deficit would be erased beforelunch itself, till a spell of rain forced players off the field for quite some time. India were only 12 behind then. When play resumed, the duo ensured India had taken a 52-run lead in no time.
The pressure then was right back on New Zealand as Sarfaraz and Pant were totally untroubled by their quicks and spinners. But with the new ball, the seasoned Tim Southee gave the visitors a much-needed breakthrough late in the second session, inducing one rare mistimed shot from Sarfaraz.
As for Pant, although he was wobbling a bit at that stage, he still hoicked Southee over the on-side to get closer to the three-figure mark. But extra bounce from Will O’Rourke denied him the magic figure.
Pant may not have completed the job, but like Sarfaraz, showed character to beat the odds. A lot of it actually.
