Sarfaraz Khan roars back after first-innings duck with maiden ton to instill belief of Eden-esque stunner in Bengaluru

Sarfaraz Khan, on Saturday, scored his maiden Test century as India continue to pin their hopes on the No. 4 to pull off a stunner at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, after being folded for a historic low of just 46 in the first innings of the opening Test match against New Zealand.

Sarfaraz’s knock saw India steer past the 250-run mark and reduce the first-innings lead to less than 100 after New Zealand posted 406 on Day 3 of the match.

A chance opportunity opened up for Sarfaraz in the opening Test match of the three-game series at home against the Kiwis. India were most likely to retain their winning line-up from the Bangladesh series last month, which could have seen Sarfaraz warm the bench yet again, despite having scored three fifties in five innings in his debut Test series earlier this year, against England. But KL Rahul return to the format, implied that the management were more likely to back the experienced batter, especially with India preparing for the all-important tour of Australia later this year.

However, with Shubman Gill suffering a stiff neck on the eve of the Bengaluru opener against Tom Latham’s men, Sarfaraz, who smashed a record knock of 222 in the Irani Cup earlier this month, was drafted as a No. 4. He did fail in the opening innings, scoring a duck, but roared back as the Chinnaswamy track began to ease out for the batters.

He eventually his maiden Test century with a boundary against Tim Southee on Day 4 of the Test match. This was the 22nd instance where an India batter registered a duck and a hundred in the same Test, the most recent being Shubman Gill, against Bangladesh in Chennai last month. The only other Indian to do that against New Zealand was Shikhar Dhawan – 0 and 115 at the Eden Park, Auckland in 2014.

What happened on Day 3 of 1st IND vs NZ Test

On Day 3, the Mumbai batter put on a counter-attacking show alongside former captain Virat Kohli following the dismissal of openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal after Tea. Kohli, who was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, made a strong comeback with a counterattacking 70 before being dismissed by Glenn Phillips. En route, he joined an elite group of cricketers by scoring his 9,000th run in Test matches. Sarfaraz, meanwhile, remained unbeaten on 70 off 78 deliveries. His innings comprised seven boundaries and three sixes. The two forged a crucial partnership of 136 runs that revived India’s innings.