BENGALURU: India had a small window of opportunity in the morning session. To their credit, they had a chance to squeeze through that window after a really good hour's work where they had broken the spine of the visitors' batting unit. Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell and Glenn Philips had all disappeared back into the shed. Ravindra Jadeja had got into his stride while Kuldeep Yadav was proving to be a difficult customer.
The Black Caps were already leading by 175 but it was the sort of lead that doesn't demoralise opposition. It gives batters hope, knowing it's a question of two big partnerships to overhaul that. At Hyderabad in January, India had a lead of 190 when England started batting again. Their third innings score of 420 set India a challenging target of 231. They were bowled out for 202.
With the pitch in good condition, New Zealand, then, knew they wanted more runs in the bank to play with. What they were after was something bigger than 175; something in the region of 325-350.
Up stepped the now familiar shaggy-haired, goofy-looking Rachin Ravindra. In the company of Tim Southee, who once again displayed why he is one of the format's greatest six-hitters (he's now sixth in the list with 93), the two showed fight, creativity and some game awareness to take the game away from the hosts.
When the two joined hands, they had lost 4/40 in a session that had gone nowhere from their perspective. While trusting Southee to hold one end can be a bit of a fool's errand, Ravindra did just that. To be fair to the veteran pacer, he refused to use the long handle in the initial phases of the partnership.
The pair wanted to kill the enthusiasm of the Indian fielders. So, they cut down the risk. Even as Ravindra took singles off the first ball off Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, Southee trusted his defence. With the softish ball not misbehaving even a wee bit, the No. 8, who aggregated a total of 115 runs in 10 previous innings in India, knew he would be safe as long as he played the line and kept his pads outside the firing line.
While they did go medieval on some of the bowlers, that first initial 20-minute period was all about playing the ball, allowing it to do its thing and getting behind the line. The release came along soon enough.
There are a couple of good things about Ravindra's sub-continental prowess. As he showed at the World Cup last year, he doesn't bring out the broom for everything. He brings it out because it's there for him to play it. Unlike some of the other overseas batters who have hit shape-shifting centuries in India recently — Ollie Pope readily comes to mind — he's adept at going downtown. It's a low-risk, high-reward shot. That's exactly the shot he played to Yadav to bring up his 50. Moments later, his dancing shoes were out again as he hit the wrist-spinner over the in-field to the left of long on.
Rohit Sharma had seen enough so R Ashwin, one of the most cerebral operators, was brought on. The treatment, though, didn't change as Ravindra, whose family has deep roots in the city (his family was in the stands), went down, and deposited a full-toss over wide long on.
The 24-year-old, who scored a ton at this very ground in the World Cup last year, had switched gears. From 48 off 86 (4x4), he had moved along to 76 off 108 (8x4, 1x6) while Southee was content.
The Indian spinners, who are usually gun in these conditions, lost their lengths and their radar was all over the place. Jadeja, known for his accuracy, bowled short a few times. Ashwin, who constantly challenges both edges, was a touch too full. It was slightly choreographed bowling and the batters were taking full advantage.
With the aroma of lunch wafting to the ground from the players' lounge, the next four overs that the Indian bowlers served up were nothing more than hors d'oeuvres. 1, 1, 2, 4, 1, 6, 0, 1, 1, 6, 4, 1, 4, 1, 4, 6, 4, 1, 0, 4, 0, 6, 0, 0. 58 runs had come in a four-over burst. In the process, Ravindra had also brought up his 100.
He was the last man to be out. But he had rolled out the red carpet, lit the path with light and left maps. That window of opportunity had been slammed shut but the Indian batters found an opening as the day wore down to keep the contest relevant.