When Sarfaraz Khan turned deficit into opportunity with a majestic 150

There would be many memorable things about Sarfaraz Khan's first Test hundred. He'd carried them from a deficit of 251 to to a lead of 52 by the time he was dismissed on 150. The duck in the first innings was now a distant memory. The partnership with Rishabh Pant worth 177 was thrill-a-minute and littered with already viral moments. The animated hundred celebration that had the dressing room in guffaws was one, and so was the leaping when he tried hard to get Pant's attention to not come for the second. Sarfaraz confessed that he had forgotten about Pant's injury and the understanding to take the running between wickets a little easy but had remembered it midway, and hence had to resort to all antics possible. No harm done.

A little over a month ago on the same ground, the duo had shared a 72-run stand off 55 balls against an attack that included the likes of Akash Deep and Kuldeep Yadav. That was Pant's comeback into red-ball cricket, and the situation - not too dissimilar to this one - had seen their counterattack power a victory. It was a partnership that the duo would discuss during this game as well to take some cues. Over the course of that inning of 41, Sarfaraz had hit Akash Deep for five consecutive boundaries at one stage. The first of the lot was a dab past gully for four - a shot that would echo loudly in this Test hundred so much so that it is bound to be synonymous whenever recalled.

Sarfaraz had played that shot before in Test cricket but never frequently or as successfully. 58 of the 92 Test runs he has scored behind square on the offside came in this innings alone. And in a variety of ways at that. He would stand still and bunt a length ball, arch back and ramp a couple over the wicket-keeper or play audacious upper-cuts, covering all angles possible. Sometimes past gully or sometimes wide of the third man in place. While they would come predominantly against the pacer, even the spinners were not spared. He would pull off a couple even when there was a slip in place, throwing his hands out but still mostly in control. When he got to his hundred, 44 had come solely in the third-man area, and none straight down the ground.

Clearly, New Zealand had a ploy that they believed would be successful against a short batter on a pitch that had some bounce on it, but it wasn't working. Sarfaraz would play them, seemingly making it look dangerous but the more it was employed, the more he scored and eventually forced them to ditch it. "I think he probably played me really well," admitted Will O'Rourke, who finished with a match haul of seven wickets. "With that angle of me sort of falling away, it sort of opens up that little dab shot. We thought maybe we could have been in the game a little bit, but he played it so well. I would have liked to be a little bit tighter. Obviously, one of his strengths is that," he said at the end of the fourth day's play.

Sarfaraz's a home-grown technique, heavily governed by his father Naushad Khan, whom he has referred to as the "family doctor". His dad had provided for floodlit facilities in their backyard where Sarfaraz's game has been honed. It may not be textbook but its effectivity is being seen everyday. It's one that "everyone enjoys in the dressing room," Kuldeep Yadav had said a day earlier. Sarfaraz too was having a ball out there.

"It was fun," he said at the end of the fourth day. "I like playing the balls that rise high. I have a bouncy wicket back at home (Mumbai), and I play regularly there, and the bounce easily allows me to cut it. They were trying to ball short at me, and I simply played accordingly."

Despite his memorable ton, India ended the day which had left a lot of the hard work undone a bit. A target of 107 puts New Zealand ahead but Sarfaraz was not in the mood to accept defeat. "It isn't an easy wicket to bat on, and I don't think the game is out of our hands yet. The ball is still cutting in and out. So, if we manage to get two to three wickets of theirs early on, even they could be in a similar situation," he believes. Why not? After an innings that had driven the belief back in the team, he would be gunning for them to deliver a stab or two on the final day as well.