At lunch on Day Five, New Zealand was 79 for one, chasing 284, with Tom Latham and night-watchman Will Somerville looking good.
New Zealand dropped anchors as wickets fell, and wickets continued to fall until Rachin Ravindra and No.11 Ajaz Patel survived almost nine overs to salvage a draw.
“New Zealand managed to hold on by the skin of their teeth at Kanpur. Their timid batting after a terrific first session on the final day brought India back into the game. Once they started to get wickets in the second session, they simply piled on more pressure. As they realised that the visitors were only keen on survival and not looking for a victory,” wrote Sunil Gavaskar.
“At lunchtime, Rahane and Dravid would have been a touch worried, for Latham and Somerville had set up a perfect platform. For the following batsmen to play their normal game and take New Zealand home. Somerville fell to the first ball after lunch. When Shubman Gill took a terrific catch running hard and diving forward,” Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his Times of India column.
Sunil Gavaskar questioned New Zealand’s strategy from the second session. Stating that while the surface was playing tricks on them. The Kanpur track on Day Five wasn’t tough to bat on.
Kane Williamson
“New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson danced down the pitch and lofted the spinner over his head for a boundary. It looked as if New Zealand were going to look for a win. Then, inexplicably. The shutters were pulled down, and all that it did was allow Rahane to keep men in catching positions. The pitch on Day Five was not a bad one to bat on, as the first session had shown. Yes, the odd ball was going to turn and maybe even bounce a bit more, or even scoot along the ground, but it was not an impossible one to bat on,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
The World Test Championship (WTC) has given each Test played by the top sides even greater significance. In the inaugural round for the 2019-21 cycle, India and New Zealand were WTC finalists, with the latter winning in Southampton earlier this year.
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