End of what turned out to be a fascinating day’s worth of cricket. The morning session was dominated by the Black Caps as they ran through the top order to reduce the hosts at 51/5. India, however, have been a side that have fought back from the direst of situations in the recent past, and it was Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha leading their fightback in the second and third sessions, with valuable contributions from Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel that helped them set a stiff 284-run target. India checked another box with the early dismissal of Will Young, and it will take a miracle for the Kiwis to stop them from going 1-0 up in the two-match series tomorrow.
That brings us to the end of our coverage of Day 4. Do join us tomorrow for the fifth day’s play. For now, this is Amit Banerjee signing off.
“I’ve been in this situation before, but not with the Indian team. During Ranji days, I used to walk in similar situations. Mindset was thinking about the session and play every ball on its merit. (On becoming first Indian in men’s cricket to score ton and fifty on debut) I knew about it. Asked a teammate about it, but there have been several players from other teams who have done it. What matters ultimately is winning the match. It was really tough because Rahul sir told me we had to stay on for as long as possible to get to a good total. We felt 250 runs including lead would be good on this surface,” says Shreyas Iyer in a chat with the broadcasters after close of play.
After 4 overs,New Zealand 4/1 ( Tom Latham 2 , William Somerville 0)
New Zealand send Will Somerville as the nightwatchman after Young’s dismissal in the previous over. Axar bowls what turns out to be the final over of the day, giving away just one from it.
It’s stumps on Day 4 of the first Test, with the Black Caps ending the day on 4/1, getting off to a shaky start in their chase of the 284-run target.
After 3 overs,New Zealand 3/1 ( Tom Latham 1 , William Somerville 0)
Saha leaves the field as the neck issue prevents him from keeping the wickets any further, and substitute keeper Bharat takes his place. Big appeal off the second ball, perhaps for a bat-pad, though Ashwin himself isn’t interested. Young gets off the mark with a brace off the third delivery, before getting trapped leg-before by a delivery that turns sharply while staying low. Young would’ve overturned the decision had he signalled for the review on time as the ball later is confirmed to be missing leg, but the timer ran out by the time he was done chatting with Latham.
OUT! Ashwin draws first blood, trapping Young leg-before 2. Umpire Virender Sharma pauses for a couple of seconds before raising his finger. Young has a chat with Latham, and signals for the review, but unfortunately for him, the timer has run out and he has to head back. HawkEye later shows the ball to be missing leg. NZ 3/1
Young LBW Ashwin 2(6)
After 2 overs,New Zealand 1/0 ( Tom Latham 1 , Will Young 0)
Axar Patel bowls the second over. Three fielders near the batsmen, including a leg slip but Latham is not fazed and is solid with his defence. It’s a maiden.
After 1 overs,New Zealand 1/0 ( Tom Latham 1 , Will Young 0)
So Ravichandran Ashwin starts the proceedings for India. There’s a LBW appeal against Tom Latham in the second ball but an inside edge off his push saves the batsman. Five dots and then Latham clips to the on side to get off the mark.
Looks like India will have five or six overs to bowl today. They might start with the spinners. New Zealand openers will find it tricky but they will aim to survive the day.
284 is a tough task for the Kiwis. At one point, India were 51/5 but Shreyas, Ashwin and Saha played superb knocks to put India ahead in the game.
After 81 overs,India 234/7 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 61 , Axar Patel 28)
Tim Southee takes the ball. The new one is available but New Zealand haven’t taken it yet. Saha punches an outside off stump delivery towards deep point, Ajaz Patel runs and dives but fails to stop the ball so it’s a boundary. Saha doesn’t time the shot off the last ball but the batsmen do well to collect two runs.
And that’s it. India have declared. New Zealand will need to score 284 to win the Test.
After 80 overs,India 225/7 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 54 , Axar Patel 26)
Four singles from Somerville’s 16th over, with both batters starting to show a lot more urgency at the moment. India looking for some quick runs at the moment and get as close to the 300-lead as possible, and then declare, giving their bowlers 10 overs till close of play. Meanwhile, second new ball is now available for the Black Caps. Remains to be seen if Williamson will take it.