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On day four of the first Test match between India and New Zealand in Bengaluru, Rishabh Pant, the left-handed batter, smashed a 107 metre six out of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium off the bowling of Tim Southee, to the shock and awe of fans and players alike. Although, shortly after, Rishabh Pant was dismissed on 99 runs in an agonising manner, to miss out on yet another well-deserved Test hundred in his young career, following which, the Indian second innings collapsed in a heap.
At the start of day four’s play in Bengaluru, with India still trailing by 125 runs, Rishabh Pant walked out to bat alongside Sarfaraz Khan, who was 70 not out overnight, and these two swashbuckling batters took the attack to the New Zealand batters in the second. During their 177-run stand for the fourth wicket, Sarfaraz Khan scored his first hundred in Test cricket, while Rishabh Pant brought up yet another half century in the longest format of the game.
Rishabh Pant dismissed for seventh time in the 90s in his young Test career
Following the dismissal of Sarfaraz Khan, when Rishabh Pant went into the 90s for the umpteen time in Tests, he got a fuller length delivery from Tim Southee, to which he got down on one knee and hit it clean as a whistle over the deep square region for a maximum, which went out of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Just a couple of overs later, Rishabh Pant was out for the seventh time in the 90s in his career, chopping the incoming delivery from around the wicket from Will O’Rourke onto his stumps.
The fall of Rishabh Pant’s wicket led to the Indian batting lineup losing a bunch of wickets in quick succession in their second innings, getting bundled out for 462 runs in 99.3 overs. New Zealand picked up the last seven wickets for just 54 runs, to ensure that India were only 106 runs ahead, and with that, the visitors put themselves a step closer to winning their first Test in India since 1988.
