Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant struck blazing half-centuries to take India to 195/5 at lunch on the second day of the Third and final Test of the 2024 series, 40 runs adrift of New Zealand’s first innings total of 235 here on Saturday.
On another warm and humid day at the Wankhede Stadium, Pant and Gill were hotter with the bat than the conditions as they dominated the first morning, batting with controlled aggression, taking on the New Zealand spinners, capitalising on the two catches dropped by the fielders.
At lunch, Gill was batting on 70 with Ravindra Jadeja keeping him company at 10 off 18 balls as Pant, who had set the tone for the day, departed for a run-a-ball 60 as India recovered from the 10-minute madness towards the first day evening which saw them losing three wickets in seven balls to slump to 86/4.
Gill and Pant added 96 runs for the fifth wicket partnership that helped India dominate the morning session on the second day as the hosts battled on, hoping to avoid a 0-3 whitewash in the series.
Pant came out with aggressive instincts and launched into Ajaz Patel in the first over itself, jumping out for lofts over the bowler’s head off the first two deliveries of the morning. Another four in the over, proved that the Indian batters were not going to allow the New Zealand bowlers to settle down.
There were a couple of edges here and there but both Pant, who started on the overnight score of one run, and Shubman Gill made it clear that they were not going to miss out on anything that was not perfect.
Pant used his feet, employed the reverse sweep and struck his shots at will, hitting Patel for a four and a six off successive balls — a reverse sweep to the boundary followed by a charge-out for a lofted drive onto the roof of the stadium over the sightscreen.
The wicketkeeper-batter from Delhi raced to the fastest half-century by an Indian against New Zealand in Tests, reaching the mark off just 36 balls. Pant improved on the record held by Yashasvi Jaiswal who reached the half-century off 44 balls in the previous Test in Pune. He struck
Gill, starting from 31 overnight, got a huge reprieve when substitute fielder Mark Chapman dropped a skier at long-on. Gill slipped a bit as he tried to reach the pitch of the delivery, went ahead with the shot, and skied it. Chapman reached it easily, but the ball just went through his hands, hit his chest, and spilt to the ground. Gill made the most of that life as he reached his half-century off 66 balls, adding fifty runs for the fifth wicket partnership with Pant off 56 balls.
The left-hand, right-hand combination of Pant and Gill was cruising, bruising and squeezing New Zealand as India dominated the first hour of play and the lead dwindled rapidly. Pant too had a life when Matt Henry dropped an easy call at long-on off Glenn Phillips. New Zealand’s fielding on the second morning was patchy with Pant and Gill benefitting from it.
With boundaries drying up for a bit of time, leg-spinner Ish Sodhi made the much-needed breakthrough for New Zealand, breaking the partnership by sending Pant back to the pavilion.
After he had despatched a wrong’un pitched out off by Sodhi past short-cover and mid-off for a boundary, Pant missed a leg break that went onto strike the pad. The batter used the DRS hoping to reverse the verdict but the replays show the ball missed the bat and was going to hit the leg stump. DRS ruled it “umpires call” and Pant had to walk off the field for 60 off 59 balls, studded with eight boundaries and two big sixes.
With lunch approaching, Gill dropped the anchor, shunning misadventures, going for lunch in the company of Ravindra Jadeja, who was sent ahead of Sarfaraz Khan to maintain the right-hand and left-hand combination, which has served India so well on the second morning.
Brief scores:
At lunch, Day 2: New Zealand 235 lead India 195/5 in 43 overs (Shubman Gill 70 not out, Rishabh Pant 60, Ravindra Jadeja 10 not out; Ajaz Patel 2-76) by 40 runs.