Bengaluru, Oct 18: Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz Khan smashed counter-attacking fifties before the former got out on last ball of day three as India reached 231/3 in 49 overs at stumps and trail New Zealand by 125 runs in the first Test at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

After Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 72 runs for the first wicket, Sarfaraz came out all guns blazing to be unbeaten on 70 off 78 balls – laced with seven fours and three sixes. Kohli was at his usual best – driving, lofting and sweeping with ease - and became the fourth India to reach the 9000 Test run milestone during the course of his 70 off 102 balls.

But him being taken out by Glenn Phillips just before the day’s play ended capped off a sensational day of Test cricket which began with Rachin Ravindra’s excellent 134 giving New Zealand a 356-run first-innings lead.

The final session began with three boundaries, before the 72-run opening ended when Jaiswal stepped out against Ajaz Patel, got beaten and was easily stumped. Rohit then hit a hat-trick of flurry boundaries off Matt Henry – last of which got him his 18th Test fifty. But in the next over, Rohit defended on the front foot off Patel, but the ball bounced off the inner half of the bat and rolled onto the stumps.

Sarfaraz was the initial aggressor by sweeping Patel for back-to-back fours, before he ramped and upper-cut off William O’Rourke to leave the crowd amazed. The strategy to attack Patel became clearer when Kohli hit a six and two fours, followed by Sarfaraz slogging him for two maximums.

After a late dab off Southee running for four, Sarfaraz got his fourth Test fifty, followed by Kohli getting his 31st Test half-century. The great 136-run stand ended when at the stroke of stumps, Kohli poked at a non-turning ball from Phillips and that carried a faint edge behind, which was confirmed by DRS, as he departed for 70.

Brief Scores: India 46 and 231/3 in 49 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 70 not out, Virat Kohli 70; Ajaz Patel 2-70, Glenn Phillips 1-36) trail New Zealand 402 in 91.3 overs (Rachin Ravindra 134, Devon Conway 91; Ravindra Jadeja 3-72, Kuldeep Yadav 3-99) by 125 runs

(IANS)

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