Journalism of Courage
India resumed day four against New Zealand at 152/1 with Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. After adding 33 runs to the overnight score, Vijay was the first to fall on Sunday as he was trapped in front of the stumps by Mitchell Santner. Vijay was looking good for a century, as he did in the first innings, but was undone by a good delivery. This brought India captain Virat Kohli at the crease. (Source: PTI)
Virat Kohli, who had a short stay at the crease in the first innings, had another failure in the second innings. The Indian captain was dismissed by Mark Craig after he had scored 18 runs. Kohli, playing the sweep shot off a outside the off-stump wide ball, ended up top-edging it as it bounced more from the footmarks of the Green Park pitch. He went straight up in the air and was caught at deep square-leg. Kohli was livid after the shot. (Source: PTI)
Cheteshwar Pujara will once again be India's number three batsman as he was retained by the selectors. He scored a century in the last Test against New Zealand and three fifties in the series. (Source: PTI)
Rohit Sharma, who has been criticised for lack of runs in the longer format of the game, struck an elegant fifty to prove his worth. He remained unbeaten on 68. (Source: PTI)
The highlight of the Indian innings was Ravindra Jadeja. With India's lead inching closer to the 400 mark, Jadeja accelerated and scored a fifty of 58 balls. And then came the highlight of his innings. Virat Kohli, waiting to declare after his fifty, asked him to do the sword celebration he first did in the Lord's Test against England in 2014. Jadeja obliged and out came the celebrations. India declared at 377/5 and set New Zealand at 434-run target. (Source: AP)
New Zealand chase was rocked early by R Ashwin. The off-spinner was introduced in the second over and in the fourth over, Ashwin struck. Martin Guptill was the first to go, caught at silly-point. (Source: AP)
R Ashwin struck again in the same over and dismissed Tom Latham. Kane Williamson became his 200th Test victim and with that he became the fastest Indian to reach the landmark. (Source: Reuters)
New Zealand lost one more wicket on Day 4 in Ross Taylor. Luke Ronchi pushed the ball towards mid-wicket and set off for two runs. Taylor was running towards the non-striker's end and Umesh threw it on the same end. Taylor made his ground but had his bat in the air, even after being in the crease for close to two feet. (Source: PTI)
Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner shared an unbeaten 37-run stand for the fifth wicket to settle some nerves in the New Zealand dressing room. The Black Caps ended the day at 93/4, still needing 341 more runs to win the Test. (Source: Reuters)
