Coming into day two of the third Test between India and New Zealand, no one expected things to start the way Pant did. The hosts suffered a mini collapse and Pant was batting on one when Patel was getting ready to bowl at 9.30 AM. The general mood was to be prepared for another collapse in the first hour as New Zealand piled on. However, Pant, in many ways, gave a teaser into what was set to unfold in the very first over.
If Pant kicked it off, Gill followed up. After having inside-edged one of Patel’s deliveries in his next over, Gill stepped out and lofted the spinner inside out over extra cover for a four. Understanding the difference in the way the two batters operated, Tom Blundell did his bit by standing up to Matt Henry, who was bowling from the other end, when Pant was batting. For Gill, they had a conventional field and plans with the lanky pacer getting some extra bounce off the surface. None of it worked.
Meanwhile, taken aback by the counterattack, Patel’s line and length started to falter. Pant pounced on it. He brought out the trademark lap shot and then lofted him down the ground shortly after. Now, it is not as if he was going hard every delivery. When Henry was on, Pant was happy to get in line and defend, playing the ball on its merit. But against Patel, Pant was turning the heat — a reverse sweep was followed by another smack downtown. Tom Latham turned to Glenn Phillips off-spin but it didn’t matter. Pant had smashed the Kiwi down for another boundary.
In the first ten overs of the day, Pant, who had started the day at one run raced to 48 from 34. Gill, as hard as it can be, did not try anything unnecessary after watching Pant. The one moment he did, going after Phillips, Gill was dropped at long-on. After that, the No. 3 batter was not going to take any chances. They had already scored 65 runs in the first ten overs so there was no need for anything out of the ordinary. “We were just having fun in the middle,” Gill explained after the day’s play in Mumbai. “It was all about trying to put them under pressure because then it is difficult for the bowlers to be able to bowl in that area consistently,” he added.
