Gambhir replaces Shubman Gill as Yashasvi Jaiswal tries to salvage India's position

India is facing a daunting task in the 2nd Test against New Zealand at Pune as they strive to maintain their 12-year streak of winning Test series at home. To achieve this, they must successfully chase down a challenging 360-run target. With the game only on Day 3, known as the moving day in Test cricket, India's fate heavily relies on their star-studded batting line-up. Although Rohit Sharma has been dismissed, leaving nine wickets in hand, the aggressive batting display by young talents Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal has already knocked down 81 runs, providing a glimmer of hope for India. It remains to be seen whether they can pull off an impressive comeback and emerge victorious in this crucial Test match.

After losing Rohit for 8, Jaiswal and Gill added 47 runs in just 38 balls to take them to lunch one down. While Jaiswal was clearly the show stealer, Gill showed drastic improvement from his performance in the first innings. Out LBW to Mitchell Santner just yesterday, Gill, under the watchful eyes of India head coach Gautam Gambhir, made a conscious effort to work on his technical shortcoming. Even before the match resumed on Saturday, Gill could be seen working hard in the nets, trying to position his bat ahead of the pad while playing the ball than behind it – something that led to his dismissal a little over 24 hours ago.

While he and Jaiswal powered on in India's chase, the camera briefly aired a clip where Gambhir, keenly following Gill's batting, told the youngster to use his bat more effectively and in front of the pads. Gambhir is one of India's finest players against spin; he was part of that fabled Indian batting order in the mid 2000s, featuring VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and others. The current bunch of Indian players may not be as capable batting against spin, and that is one area Gambhir needs to take charge in to spark an improvement.

And his efforts seem to be paying off well. Gill is already batting on 22 off 20 balls, with four boundaries and is leading India's positive intent in the second innings. India are scoring at a stunning run-rate of 6.75 and with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar to come, their fate lies in the hands of these youngsters more than veterans Virat Kohli or Ravindra Jadeja.

India did well to pick up the remaining five New Zealand wickets in just over an hour. New Zealand, resuming at 198/5, looked at adding a whole lot of runs more but Ravindra Jadeja, surprisingly quiet with the ball until Day 2, picked up three wickets and effected a run out to bowl the Kiwis for 259 and limit the lead to 359 when 400 looked easily gettable for the visitors. India lost Rohit cheaply again, getting out to Santner, who took his match-haul to eight wickets. But with plenty of time and cricket still left to be played, the coming two sessions could make or break this fascinating Test. India need another 278 runs to notch up a famous win, while New Zealand are 9 scalps away to rewrite record books.