Gill and Pant's fifties spearheaded India's recovery in the match

On the second morning of the final test match against New Zealand, Rishabh Pant (60) along with Shubman Gill (70*) helped India build a 96-run partnership. Pant was the last man out, getting dismissed about 25 minutes to lunch, but Gil, along with Pant, was able to cut New Zealand’s first inning total down to 40 runs in what was termed an India-dominated session. Despite having been absent from the side for some time, Ish Sodhi was the only one able to claim the wicket during this match, but the New Zealand team did get the opportunity early, during which they made some missed attempts.

Pant set the aggressive tone in the very first over of the day, hitting on Ajaz' first over three boundaries. Davies also donned the garb of an aggressor and was in no mood to face the pacers, more so the leg spinners. There was some risk-taking involved here, and both the batters let go of a chance that they would have taken ordinarily. Gill attempted to take on Glenn Phillips in his first over of the day but managed to miss a lofty shot that was directed to deep mid-wicket, where substitute Mark Chapman made a mess of a straightforward catch. It was Phillips who has also created the other chance too, as when Pant jumped out and lofted a shot over the head of Matt Henry on the long offside, the Pacer could not grasp it.

On both sides of trying to convert these missed chances, the pair of Pant and Gill batted acrobatically and made sure that the scoring rate was maintained high. In the first hour of play during this day's play, a lot of runs—77 to be precise—were scored during the 14 overs that were bowled as boundaries came thick and fast. It was an entirely different scenario in the second hour as New Zealand’s bowlers also sharpened their focus. Although he was able to use his feet and the depth of the crease well for most parts of his innings, deep inside, Pant got stuck on a spinning leg break from Sodhi that thudded into his knee roll. However, it was a 50-50 call that was left, once again, on the umpire's call, and the DRS review did not overturn the original call. 

As for Marshall, his ditching made life easier for New Zealand, as for them it wasn’t a pleasant morning. The situation for the spinners is quite a lot worse and rather interesting; the bounce is usually not true to the fact that it is at Broadon. This would mean that any form of lead for the first inning would be crucial to the match.