Day 4: New Zealand 4/1 at stumps, need another 280 runs to win
Kanpur, Nov 28: Debutant Shreyas Iyer showed his ice-cool temperament under pressure to stand tall with a fine half-century which placed India in a commanding position as they set up a stiff victory target of 284 for New Zealand on the fourth day of the opening Test here on Sunday.
India declared at 234 for 7 for an overall lead of 283 and gave the Black Caps four tricky overs to face under fading light during which they managed four runs and lost opener Will Young to Ravichandran Ashwin.
With that scalp, Ashwin became the joint third highest wicket-taker in Indian cricket with Harbhajan Singh (417 wickets).
The highest ever fourth innings chase by a visiting team in India is 276 by Viv Richards' West Indies against the Dilip Vengsarkar-led India in 1987 at the Feroz Shah Kotla, which placed statistics on the home team's side.
The honours for India on the day were shared by Iyer (65 off 125 balls), who became the first Indian to score a hundred and fifty on debut and the plucky Wriddhiman Saha (61 not out, 126 balls), who battled stiff neck to make an invaluable contribution which will certainly count a lot in the final context of the match.
Axar Patel (28 not out) then conjured another 67-run eighth-wicket stand with Saha to slowly take the match out of the Black Caps' grasp.
If New Zealand are still in the match, credit must go to their tireless seam bowling duo of Tim Southee (22-2-75-3) and Kyle Jamieson (17-6-40-3), who showed an exhibition of top class bowling on an unresponsive track.
However, it will now depend on how much time it takes for India's spin troika to roll over New Zealand, whose openers showed a lot of gumption on the second afternoon and third morning.
Also if skipper Williamson can do something mind-blowing with the willow, there might just be a great contest on the cards.
If the morning belonged to New Zealand's bowlers, who decided to prolong Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane's bad patch, the afternoon was Iyer's time under the sun while Saha did his bit, reaching his sixth half-century in the final session of the day.
This is certainly an innings which will give Saha's Test career a new lease of life.
This was after stand-in captain Rahane and his temporary deputy Pujara's saga of failures continued leaving India tottering at 51 for 5 in the first 75 minutes of the morning session.
But credit to Iyer, who once again displayed steely temperament on the way to his second 50-plus score in the match, hitting eight fours and a huge six over long off against Will Sommerville.
His best shot, however, was an inside out lofted drive off left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. It was a difficult shot that was perfectly executed.
It was followed by a square cut in the same over as Williamson erred by bowling his spinners for way too long.
That was proved when Southee removed Iyer at the stroke of tea when he tried to pull one that was drifting down leg side.
Credit should also be given to Saha as he batted with an open-chested stance compared to his usual side-on which reduces the pronounced neck movement.
He played his customary game of dabs and flicks and also produced an occasional slog pull for six as his innings had four fours and a six.
However, on the fourth morning, Southee, a practitioner of conventional swing bowling, took a master-class on how to bowl on an unresponsive Indian track, classically setting up the batters.
But before Southee got into the act, Kyle Jamieson (13-6-26-3) targeted Pujara's (22 off 33 balls) ribcage, getting one to rear up on this dead track and it brushed the India No. 3's gloves into the hands of keeper Tom Blundell.
Rahane (4 off 15 balls) is out of form and the world knows about that. However, Ajaz Patel (17-3-60-1), who has looked way below Test class, then produced his best delivery of the match.
An arm ball that was fired in with the angle caught Rahane plumb in-front while he tried to play a forward defensive prod.
Mayank Agarwal (17) did all the hardwork in the first hour but Southee (15.2-3-48-3) set him up with deliveries that came into him from good length spot as he played with a closed bat-face.
Then he pitched on the same spot and, to Agarwal's horror, it shaped slightly away and he had committed to a closed bat-face.
The result was a regulation catch to Tom Latham in the second slip.
For Ravindra Jadeja (0), Southee used the width of the crease with an angular delivery that wrapped him on the pads.
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Bengal: Over 55 pc turnout till 1 pm in repoll in 15 booths of 2 assembly seats
Kolkata (PTI): Over 55 per cent turnout was recorded till 1 pm in repoll in 15 booths of two assembly constituencies in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, an official said.
Voting was underway more or less peacefully at 11 polling stations of Magrahat Paschim assembly constituency and four in Diamond Harbour, where the EC ordered repoll a day ago, following reports of electoral malpractices.
However, at booth number 179 at Chanda Primary School of Diamond Harbour seat, the Trinamool Congress alleged that a specially abled voter and his mother were harassed by central forces. The alleged incident sparked protests by party workers and locals.
The TMC claimed that the voter's mother, who had entered the booth to assist him, and her son were detained for a considerable time by central forces over alleged rule violations.
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"TMC leaders Manmohini Biswas and Pratik Ur Rahman reached the spot and led the protests, with residents terming the action unwarranted harassment. The matter has been taken care of by our officials there," an official of the poll body said.
Polling was otherwise peaceful across 15 booths in the area, he added.
Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, the official said, adding that till 1 pm, the turnout was 55.57 per cent.
Magrahat Paschim registered 56.33 per cent voter turnout, while in Diamond Harbour, it was 54.9 per cent, a poll official stated.
Voting in these two assembly constituencies was held in the second phase of the state elections on April 29.
The repoll order was based on reports received from returning officers and observers of the two constituencies and "material circumstances", the Election Commission official said.
In Magrahat Paschim, TMC's Md Samim Ahamed Molla is pitted against BJP nominee Goursundar Ghosh, while Abdul Majid Halder of the Congress and ISF candidate Abdul Aziz Al Hassan are also in the fray.
TMC candidate Panna Lal Halder is contesting against Dipak Kumar Halder of the BJP in the Diamond Harbour seat. Goutam Bhattacharya of the Congress and CPI(M)'s Samar Naiya are among other candidates.
The BJP had alleged rampant electoral malpractices in certain polling stations of both the assembly seats under the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The EC had deputed its special observer, Subrata Gupta, to fact-check the allegations from the ground.
The poll panel will decide on repolling in the Falta assembly constituency on Saturday.
The West Bengal assembly elections were held in two phases -- April 23 and April 29 -- amid unprecedented security arrangements.
Counting of votes will take place on May 4.
