In a bid to bring India into the lead, Sarfaraz Khan began proceedings alongside Rishabh Pant on Day 4 of the first Test against New Zealand. After being three down at the end of the third day, Sarfaraz continued from where he left as he began the fourth day on a positive note.
The Mumbai batter hit some cheeky boundaries towards the slip cordon and collected runs at a brisk rate. However, in a rather comical incident during the first session, Sarfaraz and Pant survived a suicidal run-out chance.
In the 56th over of India's second innings, Sarfaraz played a cut towards deep backward point and the batters charged for a run. Pant was highly committed for a brace and started running without even having a look at his partner and was more than halfway through to his run. The fielder charged the throw which wasn't a great one and the wicketkeeper Tom Blundell had to come forward to collect the ball.
Blundell made a mess of the opportunity and didn't had throw the ball at the stumps as he was away from the crease too. While the Kiwis were making a mess, Sarfaraz was animatedly jumping, yelling and denying Pant for the second run. Pant was lucky and survived.
Watch the video here:
Sarfaraz went on to smash his maiden Test century to build on to his impressive start to Test cricket. This was his fourth fifty-plus score in as many Test matches since his debut earlier this year in England. The knock would further tempt the Indian selectors to keep him in the squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series.
Coming back to the India vs New Zealand Test, the Indians were 356 behind at the end of the first innings. They made only 46 in the first innings after a shocking collapse in seaming conditions on Day 1. New Zealand had hit 402 in their first innings to hand a huge trail to the hosts
