The collapse that defied India's fightback in Bengaluru

Bengaluru is no coastal city but the tide has turned multiple times in the Bengaluru Test between India and New Zealand. The second new ball on Day 4, however, may have turned it the one final time in New Zealand’s favour.

India were in a promising position with Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan batting through the truncated morning session and razing off the gigantic deficit of 356 runs. The second new ball, New Zealand’s only hope, was seven overs away. Despite the free-wheeling batting trait of Sarfaraz and Pant, it was impossible for India to gain a sizeable lead before the second new ball. 

Hence, it was imperative for India to see through the new red cherry to maintain their stronghold over the game. 

Alas, the opposite happened!!!

India lost seven wickets for 54 runs. 

The signs were ominous from the first over with the new ball itself. Tim Southee beat Sarfaraz three times in that over. At the end of the over, Ravi Shastri on air mentioned how critical it is for India to see off this burst from the Kiwi seamers. 

Sarfaraz, however, looked flustered for the first time in the innings. He had scored only two runs off Southee’s first two overs with the second new cherry, facing 10 balls. At the start of Southee’s third over, the right-hander tried to shift the pressure back by lofting one over the in-field. He only managed to find the cover fielder that brought curtains to his knock of 150. 

Such big partnerships often have one partner following the other to the dressing room. The pattern followed with a Pant chopping on a back-of-a-length delivery from William O’Rourke onto his stumps, falling one run short of a well-deserved hundred. 

ALSO READ: Rishabh Pant & curse of the nervous 90s 

With both set batters gone within eight over of the new ball, New Zealand smelt blood. O’Rourke continued his demolition job, closing out the session with a ripper to KL Rahul that had India effectively 82/6 in no time. The match was slipping away again, with only Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin left to grow the lead. 

A collapse followed, not too dissimilar to India’s first innings efforts. Jadeja toe-ended a pull shot to the square-leg fielder. Ashwin then fell to an incoming delivery with a low bounce. 

Rest was a formality, with both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj falling to Matt Henry in a span of three balls. 

New Zealand simply cracked the code of a hard ball on a Bengaluru pitch with uneven bounce around the back-of-a-length and good-length area. The kind of deliveries that fetched them the wicket of Virat Kohli (extra bounce) on Day 2 morning also got them Rahul (on Day 4 noon) alongside constant swing and seam movement. 

All seven wickets came from those two zones that the Blackcaps targeted extensively.

After a hard toil, the Kiwi pacers finished with seven wickets between them, all with the second new ball.

India went from 46 all out in the first innings to post 408/3 on the board and then slipped to lose seven wickets for 54 runs. Their chances of winning plummeted from 41% before the second new ball was taken to 4% by the end of their innings. 

All is not lost as New Zealand still have to chase down 107 to win their first Test in India in 36 years. But at the same time, it only looks a matter of time with even a draw (considering Bengaluru’s unpredictable weather) holding a bigger possibility than India clinching this game now. 

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