Sarfaraz Khan led India's fight on Day 4 of the first Test against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The red-ball specialist completed his maiden Test century, shutting all the naysayers who doubted his abilities. The 26-year-old had joined the proceedings on Day 3 when India were significantly behind New Zealand. He then stitched 136 runs with Virat Kohli, who was dismissed on 70, for the third wicket, handing India an outside chance considering India's first innings total of 46. On Day 4 the Mumbai batter picked up from where he left and stitched another 100-plus stand with Rishabh Pant, as the hosts are now onset towards imposing a challenging second innings total for New Zealand.
Sarfaraz slammed his maiden ton in his third Test, having managed the scores of 62, 68*, 14, 0, 56, and 0 in the previous innings he has been involved in. He is still going strong in the middle and was batting at 125 before rain stopped play, also forcing the umpires to call for early Lunch. The right-handed batter has hit 16 boundaries and three maximums so far and the team will hope that he continues the show when action resumes. Rishabh Pant at the other end has also completed his half-century as India's total has moved to 344/3, from the overnight score of 231/3, and are now trailing by 12 runs.
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If we look at the proceedings so far, the knock by Sarfaraz has been nothing short of top-class batting. The performance has raised hopes of a win, considering how India were folded for 46 in the first innings, following which New Zealand piled 402 to take a gigantic 356-run lead.
Learning from the mistakes of first innings, Sarfaraz and Pant took some time to watch out the early threat on Day 4, which was played under overcast conditions. Once they got themselves settled, both batters launched counterattack forcing New Zealand to search for answers on how to break the stand.
Sarfaraz despite being part of the Bangladesh series was not part of the playing XI. He only got a chance in the match after Shubman Gill was not 100 percent fit to take part. Sarfaraz boasts of a rich CV in the domestic circuit in red-ball format, so him not getting a chance led to questions, which were addressed by head coach Gautam Gambhir ahead of the Bangladesh Tests. "We don’t drop anyone. We just pick the players who fit the XI. We believe in selecting the XI. (Dhruv) Jurel is a phenomenal player when Pant is coming in, sometimes people have to wait. Same with Sarfaraz. There will be opportunities and you have to wait," Gambhir had then said during a press conference.
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So Sarfaraz did wait patiently on the fringes and when the opportunity arrived he latched on to it with a superb ton, an innings reflecting his understanding of the format.
Interestingly, this is the 22nd instance of an India batter registering a duck and a hundred in the same Test. Sarfaraz was dismissed for a duck in the first after being brilliant caught by Daryl Mitchell at extra cover.
Shubman Gill is the most recent example, who was out for a duck and followed it with a ton against Bangladesh in the first Test played in Chennai. The only other Indian to do that against New Zealand was Shikhar Dhawan. The left-handed batter, who announced his retirement earlier this year, had scored 0 and 115 at the Eden Park, Auckland in 2014.
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