Day 4 saw India reach 344 for 3, thanks to 113 runs scored in the morning session by Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant. By lunch on Saturday, October 19, the gap had been reduced to 12 runs. Rain forced an early stop to the session, leaving 105 minutes of play viable. In that time, Sarfaraz achieved his first Test century while Pant amassed yet another half-century.
In the second over of the day, Sarfaraz did not waste any time in getting going, hitting William O’Rourke for two boundaries over the slips before dabbing Matt Henry into a gully for another. In the overs that followed, Pant quickly joined the act, and the boundary-fest carried on.
The choice to test Sarfaraz with an outside the offstump line proved to be ineffective as he amassed a century with a punch through cover while utilizing dabs, flicks, lofts, and uppercuts to great advantage.
Before cutting Tim Southee through point and cover, Pant, who had been playing second fiddle up until that moment, got things started by muscling him for a straight six down the ground. He went for the left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel, giving him a more brutal treatment. Even though Sarfaraz had adopted a little more conservative strategy, he still managed to maintain a solid scoring rate by smashing two sixes and a four in one over.
Day 4 began 48 minutes later, with Ajaz keeping Sarfaraz quiet, and New Zealand delivering the first maiden over of the day. New Zealand thought they had a chance, but these were rare occasions. A few legbefore pleas were made, and there was a brief misunderstanding between Pant and Sarfaraz, but luckily nothing serious happened for the hosts.
Brief scores: New Zealand 402 (Rachin Ravindra 134, Devon Conway 91; Ravindra Jadeja 3-72) leads India 46 and 344/3 (Sarfaraz Khan 125, Virat Kohli 70, Risabh Pant 53; Ajaz Patel 2-100) by 12 runs.
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