IND vs NZ | Rachin ton and late Kohli scalp keeps Kiwis in front despite spirited Indian fightback on Day 3

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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New Zealand found themselves seven wickets away from a rare Test victory in India after Rachin Ravindra's 134 and Tim Southee's 76 culminated in 356-run lead. Three Indian batters scored fifties in response but Virat Kohli succumbed on the last ball of the day to leave India trailing by 125 still.

Brief score: NZ 402 (Ravindra 134, Southee 65; Jadeja 3/72) lead IND 46 & 231/3 (Sarfaraz 70*, Kohli 70; Ajaz 2/70) by 125 runs

India begun Day 3 on a high with Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah bowling tight spells up front with the old ball to shackle the overnight new Zealand batters Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell. The constant build up of pressure ultimately got the better of the Kiwis as they lost four wickets for 40 runs to collapse from 190/3 overnight to 233/7 within the first hour of play. The floodglates opened with Siraj nicking off Mitchell at gully before Bumrah nipped one away just enough to take Tom Blundell's outside edge and have him caught at second slip. Ravindra Jadeja joined the action by ripping an arm ball through Glenn Phillips into the middle stump and then replicating the effort against a wild Matt Henry heave. With just three tailenders and Ravindra left to overhaul, the Men in Blue were on the charge when the tables turned once again. Ravindra began the onslaught with consecutive boundaries off Kuldeep Yadav in the 70th over to bring up his half-century and Tim Southee added another in the over to take the score past 250. The duo kept finding the occassional boundary and maximum thereafter, the action peaking in the penultimate over before Lunch in a 20-run Ashwin over where Rachin brought up his second Test ton. The duo had added 112 runs in just 97 deliveries when respite arrived for the hosts in the form of the 40-minute break. 

The action barely ceased thereafter as Southee brought up his seventh half-century and the partnership grew to 140 when Siraj finally delivered the breakthrough with a slower one that deceived Southee. Ravindra switched gears even further to add a few more quick runs to the total but two Kuldeep scalps eventually folded out the Kiwis for 402, ensuring a first innings difference of 356 runs. 

In response, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal began confidently, biding their time early on before bringing on the style with some flamboyant boundaries heading into Tea to make the score read a healthy 57/0 after 15 overs. Upon resumption, three more fours followed in the next two overs but the momentum got the better of Yashasiv as he charged down the track to Ajaz Patel and was promptly stumped. Rohit marauded on, bringing up his fifty with a four, six, and four off Southee, but he too fell victim to Ajaz, thus leaving two new batters at the crease at 95/2. Virat Kohli took a little time to get going, needing 15 balls to score a run, but he ultimately unleashed a brutal assault alongside Sarfaraz Khan. The duo put together 100 runs at nearly run-a-ball while bringing up their individual half-centuries in the process and looked set to close out the day on a high with the Black Caps lead nearing 100. However, Glenn 'golden arm' Phillips ensured the Kiwis went out on top by extracting the faintest off knicks from Kohli's blow on the last ball of the day, ending a 136-run stand and dispatching the local hero 30 short of another Test ton.



Shastri cooked him







What did just happen! 😭😭💔 

That came on the last ball!

Why God why?

He was not expecting that!

That hurts!

He missed well deserved 100!

Good but in the end...💔😭

He knows the value of the wicket!

Yeah!

That's not how the day should end! 💔😭💔😭💔😭

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