Before the start of the series against New Zealand, India needed four wins to reach the final of the World Test Championship (WTC). From fans to pundits, it was predicted that the Indian team would win all three Test matches against New Zealand and win at least one match on the tour of Australia to secure a place in the finals.
But, the result has been opposite. The Kiwi team has defeated India in three consecutive Test matches in India and swept the series 3-0. After 24 years a team has defeated India on Indian soil. Earlier in the year 2000, South Africa beat India 2-0 in India. Why Indian team faced such situation against New Zealand, Let's understand in 5 factors…
1. Flop Show of Superstar Batters On paper, the Indian batting looked much better than New Zealand's, but on the pitch, the Indian stars remained like wet beelies. Virat Kohli, who scored 80 centuries in international cricket, scored only 92 runs in 6 innings of the three Test matches of this series.
Team captain Rohit Sharma scored two runs less than Virat (93 runs). He scored 91 runs in 6 innings. Young batsmen Yashshwi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan also managed to cross the 50 mark only once in their 6 innings each.
Understand with one fact how Indian batting flopped. Three New Zealand batsmen scored 200-plus runs in the series. At the same time, only Rishabh Pant from India could cross the 200-run mark.
2. New Zealand's left-arm spinners are overwhelmed New Zealand's left arm spinners outclassed the Indian batsmen in the series. After losing the first Test in Bengaluru, the Indian team management decided to create a spin-friendly pitch, but the series defeat could not be avoided. Ajaz Patel took 15 wickets and Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets in the overall series.
Mitchell Santner in the Pune Test and Ajaz Patel in the Mumbai Test proved the Indian batsmen ineffective. Santner took a total of 13 wickets in Pune while Ejaz Patel took 11 wickets in the Mumbai Test. He also took 2 wickets each in Pune and Bengaluru.
3. Ravichandran Ashwin's failure India's veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was a complete failure in this series. He could take only 9 wickets in three Tests. While Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets in just one match.
4. Couldn't play seam and swing in first test In the series opener in Bengaluru, the Indian batting collapsed against the bounce and swing of the Kiwis. There, Rohit Sharma could not read the position of the pitch. New Zealand fast bowlers took 17 wickets in this match. Out of which 8 wickets were taken by Matt Henry, 7 wickets by William O'Rourke and 2 wickets by Tim Southee.
In this match, the Indian team was all out for 46 runs in the first innings. Kohli, Sarfraz, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin could not even open an account in this innings.
5. India took New Zealand lightly, Kiwis came with better preparation The New Zealand team has been touring India since 1955, but had never before managed to win a Test series here. Because of this the Indian management probably did not take New Zealand seriously. Before this series, the Kiwi team had to face defeat in Sri Lanka. Most Indian fans and pundits were confident that a series win against New Zealand would prove to be a cake-walk for India. The opposite happened. Good practice against spin in Sri Lanka came in handy for New Zealand in India.
related to Test Cricket…
India clean sweep at home after 24 years, New Zealand win Mumbai Test by 25 runs
New Zealand beat India by 25 runs in the third Test. With this, the team has won the three-match series by 3-0. A Kiwi team has won a Test series in India for the first time. The Indian team got a clean sweep at home after 24 years. Before this, in the year 2000, India's 2-match Test against South Africa was whitewashed.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
