As we speak, the third test between India and New Zealand is on a knife edge, with the home side in dire straits. In their pursuit of 147, India made a disastrous start to the run chase and lost their top order in no time with 29 on the board. Pant is the only batter who is now holding the Indian innings together by a thread. He is currently unbeaten on 53* and his side hopes that he stays till the end to help India avoid an embarrassing series whitewash at home. 

Here is how the drama unfolded on day three

New Zealand could only manage to add three more runs to their overnight total of 171-9 before being dismissed on 174 courtesy of Jadeja’s final wicket. This meant that India was required to chase down a target of 147, which by no means was a challenging ask. But with the pitch turning square, very few could anticipate the carnage that was to come in the Indian innings. 

Rohit Sharma kicked off the run chase with a few boundaries but he turned out to be the first Indian victim to fall and was removed by Henry during the third over. That wicket triggered a procession of wickets for team India as they went from 13-1 to 29-5 in virtually a blink of an eye. The spin duo of Ajaz and Phillips took over and accounted for the bulk of the damage. 

The Indian batters struggled against the spinning ball and failed to pick the natural variations which ultimately proved to be their downfall. Ajaz Patel once again proved to be a potent threat for the home side claiming figures of 4-43 while Phillips also managed to bag an all-important wicket of Jaiswal on five. Ajaz ran through the defenses of Gill, Kohli, Jadeja, and Sarfarz. Rohit and Pant are the only two batters to register double-figure scores. 

Apart from quality spin bowling, the shot selection of some of our batters were also questionable. Gill opting to leave a straighter ball and Sarafaz holing out to Ravindra at deep square leg to a full toss were some of the brain-fade moments our batters faced in the middle.

Pant shines with the bat and keeps India afloat 

In the face of an acute adversary, one man defied all odds. The flamboyant wicket-keeper batsman Rishab Pant played with a lot of purpose to give India a fighting chance of earning a consolidation win. On a deteriorating Wankhede pitch, Pant played some swashbuckling shots to entertain the home crowd. The 27-year-old did not hesitate to use his feet against the tossed-up deliveries and deployed his sweep shots precisely on numerous instances at a time when batters have largely struggled to get their feet moving. 

He teamed up with Jadeja to help India stitch a valuable 42 runs for the sixth wicket to get India close to the target. Unfortunately, the partnership was broken by Ajaz who once again came on top to have Jadeja caught at short leg. But Pant remained resolute and has raced to 53 in only 50 balls.

At the time of writing, the game was set up nicely at lunch on day three with India at 92-6 still requiring 55 more runs to avoid a rare clean sweep at home. Pant is a ray of hope for the Men In Blue who have their backs placed firmly on the wall. He will have to grind harder for the next few overs to see India home by the end of the second session.