India wicketless in the first session of day five as NZ look to save the Kanpur Test
Lunch New Zealand 296 and 79 for 1 (Somerville 36*, Latham 35*) need another 205 runs to beat India 345 and 234 for 7 dec
And so, despite India surrounding the bat with catching fielders, they were aware at all times that the ball had barely carried to one all week. After three full innings and 35 overs in the fourth, only one wicket has fallen to a catch in the slips and none to a bat-pad catch.
At lunch, New Zealand were 79 for 1, with both overnight batters into their 30s. With a minimum of 60 overs left to play, New Zealand would need to score at a little less than three-and-a-half an over through the last two sessions to pull off an unlikely heist, but the longer they go without losing wickets, the more risks they can afford to take in the pursuit of quick runs later in the game.
Latham carried on from where he left off in the first innings, batting in a bubble of pared-down efficiency, defending right under his eyes and shelving almost every shot other than the clip off the legs and – when the line was right – the sweep, with only two of his 35 runs coming through the off side. Apart from one failed and slightly desperate review from India – when Ravindra Jadeja turned one sharply to beat his inside edge and strike his back pad well outside the line of off stump – India barely ever breached that bubble.
Somerville played the part of annoying nightwatchman to perfection, frustrating India by facing, and surviving, more balls than his top-order partner. While India caused him problems – as a control percentage of 72 would suggest, compared to Latham’s 88 – they didn’t translate into chances. Umesh Yadav found a bit of outswing early in the day, went past his bat twice, and found his edge twice in successive overs, but the ball fell short of gully and then slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing him, also saw two edges elude or fail to reach the cordon.
R Ashwin looked India’s most threatening bowler through the session, testing both edges of both batters constantly while subtly altering the seam position on his offbreaks and landing them on an immaculate length. Even so, the slowness of the surface allowed the batters to adjust on most occasions, the biggest example coming five overs from lunch when Latham played back to one that crept through at just above ankle height but managed to jam his bat down and keep it out.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo