The Blackcaps have batted out the final day of the first test against India at Kanpur, saving a draw in dramatic circumstances.
Needing 284 runs for victory on the final day, New Zealand batted out the allotted overs to finish at 165/9, securing a famous draw to ensure they didn't fall to a 1-0 deficit in the two match series.
Down to the last-wicket pair in fading light at Green Park, debutant Rachin Ravindra, 22, batted for 91 balls for an unbeaten 18 runs, as the hosts ran out of time to take the final wicket.
Ravindra and Ajaz Patel (two not out) lasted 52 deliveries and scored 10 runs together to ensure the Blackcaps head to Mumbai for the second test later this week with everything to play for.
India will wonder what else they could do on a wicket prepared to suit them, with their trio of spinners of Ravindra Jadeja (4/40), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/35) and Axar Patel (1/23) sharing eight of the nine wickets to fall in the second innings.
So favourable were the conditions, India's spinners took 17 of the 19 New Zealand wickets to fall throughout the course of the first test.
Resuming at 4/1, the Blackcaps' overnight pair of Tom Latham and nightwatchman Will Somerville resisted India in the morning session, batting until the lunch break without loss.
Faced with a troublesome pitch, where unreliable bounce was a feature of the final day, Latham and Somerville added a half-century stand in 105 balls, with the tailender contributing most of the partnership.
Latham and Somerville's vigil sent New Zealand into lunch at 79/1 - 205 runs away from victory - and two sessions away from survival.
But after doing all the work in the morning session, Somerville fell to the opening ball of the afternoon. As Umesh Yadav came around the wicket, Somerville top-edged a bouncer that flew into the hands of Shubman Gill coming off the rope at fine leg.
Even after losing his wicket , Somerville could depart with his head held high, batting for 110 balls to add 76 runs with Latham.
Joined by captain Kane Williamson, Latham pushed on to reach 50 for the second time in the match, his second arriving in 138 balls, after his first innings 95. Latham departed in the second session, as a ball from Ashwin kept low and took the inside edge onto his stumps, out for 52.
Ross Taylor batted for more than half an hour, before getting his innings underway, but became India's third victim before the tea break, trapped leg before wicket by Jadeja for two, as the Blackcaps finished the afternoon at 125/4.
The flurry of wickets before tea would only foreshadow what was to come, as the spinning conditions aided India's slow bowlers in the evening.
After the break, Henry Nicholls was trapped LBW for one to Axar, before the hosts grabbed the big wicket of Williamson.
Faced with unreliable bounce, Williamson played back to a length delivery that died on him and was trapped for 24. In next to no time, New Zealand's 125/3 had become 128/6.
With the recognised specialist batters all dismissed, Tom Blundell took charge as the senior player, surviving 38 balls and 48 minutes, before he too fell to the treacherous pitch.
A ball defended into a footmark savagely deflected back onto Blundell's stumps, sending the Kiwi wicketkeeper back for just two runs, leaving Ravindra to bat with the bowlers.
Kyle Jamieson survived 30 balls for his five runs, before he too was trapped by Jadeja.
After his heroics with the ball, Tim Southee only lasted eight deliveries for four runs, before becoming another of Jadeja's victims, but cleverly took a review that ate away time, as the light faded.
Down to the final pair, Ravindra showed maturity well beyond his years in his first taste of test cricket, defending well off both the front and back feet, dealing with deliveries that accounted for his more senior teammates.
Meanwhile, Ajaz also showed incredible composure as the last batter, facing 23 balls for his unbeaten two, including the final over, bowled by Jadeja.
The draw sees both sides take four points towards their 2021-23 World Test Championship standings.
The second and final test of the series begins at Mumbai on Friday (NZ time).
Join Newshub for live updates of the second test between the Blackcaps and India from 5pm Friday
