Sarfaraz Khan and Virat Kohli led India’s fightback in the second innings with a 136-run stand on day 3 of the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. However, New Zealand struck on the final ball of the day to dismiss Kohli and regained the advantage.

Earlier, Rachin Ravindra’s second Test century and an attacking half century from Tim Southee had given New Zealand the upper hand over India.

Ravindra and Southee put up a 137-run stand for the eighth wicket to take the Kiwis to 402 and take a whopping 356-run lead. In response, Khan (70 not out) and Virat Kohli (70) hit fluent half centuries to take India to 231/3 at stumps.

India are 125 runs behind having Kohli and lost openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma.

After play was washed out on day 1, India endured a horror show on the morning of day 2. The Kiwi fast bowlers made full use of the overcast conditions to dismiss India for a paltry 46 in the first innings.

Devon Conway’s 91 helped the Kiwis end day 2 on 180/3 with Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell in the middle.

India had a good start to the proceedings on Friday as they picked up four wickets for 53 runs to expose the Kiwi tail. However, Ravindra and Southee took the attack to the Indian bowlers scoring 137 runs in just 132 balls to take the match away from India.

Ravindra, who had taken 88 balls to get to 50, took only 36 balls more to bring up his second Test ton. Southee, who hit five fours and four sixes in his stand, scored his seventh half century soon after.

India finally broke the stand at 370 after Southee failed to read a slower delivery from Mohammed Siraj and holed out to Ravindra Jadeja at cover.

Ravindra continued to attack at the other end and took New Zealand past 400 before falling to Kuldeep Yadav for a knock of 134 off 157 balls.

Khan, Kohli lead Indian fightback

India got off to a brisk start in the second innings as Jaiswal and Sharma took India past 50 at Tea. However, the Kiwis struck soon after the break as Jaiswal danced down the track to try and hit spinner Ajaz Patel but missed the ball. Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell whipped off the bails to catch Jaiswal stranded down the pitch.

At the other end, Rohit Sharma kept the attack going as he clubbed Matt Henry for two fours and a six in an over to bring up his half century. However, the Indian captain got out in the next over in bizarre fashion. He defended a Patel ball on the front foot only for it to bounce back and roll onto the stumps.

While Kohli took his time to settle in, Khan was aggressive from the get go as he attacked Patel and pacer William O’Rourke.

The Mumbai batter hit six fours and three sixes in his stay as he brought up his fifty in just 42 balls. Kohli also brought up his 50 soon after in 70 balls.

The pair brought up the 100-run stand and looked on course to ending the day on a positive note only for Kohli to feather the ball behind to Blundell off Glenn Philips.