First time in 91 years! How New Zealand handed India an unprecedented 3-0 series drubbing at home | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Indian men’s cricket team was on Sunday whitewashed for the first time in a Test series of three or more matches at home.
Who saw it coming two weeks ago?
Nobody, including the Blackcaps, could’ve imagined that India could be defeated 3-0 but Tom Latham’s men achieved the unachievable.
In the fourth innings of the third Test, India needed just 146 runs to win the match but Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips, who took 9 wickets between them, handed India arguably the most embarrassing series defeat at home in its history of 91 years of Test cricket.
The only silver lining for India was the Rishabh Pant‘s innings, who showed some resistance and scored 64 runs off 57 balls, taking India from 29 for 5 to 106 for 6.
When New Zealand landed in India after Rohit Sharma‘s side defeated Bangladesh in just 2 days of play in the Kanpur Test, and the Kiwis had faced a 2-0 defeat against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, the conventional cricketing wisdom suggested that India would be at advantageous position throughout the series considering their home record — 18 consecutive Test series since 2012.
But all that changed as soon as the rain-induced first Test began at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium. Batting first after winning toss in overcast conditions, India were bowled out for a mere 46, their lowest score at home and third-lowest overall. New Zealand’s fast bowlers ran all over India’s batting line-up with Matt Henry, William O’Rourke, and Tim Southee taking five, four, and one wickets, respectively.
After conceding a 346-run lead in the 1st innings, India tried to make a comeback in the second, with the help of Pant and Sarfaraz Khan but it was not enough and India were eventually defeated by 8 wickets. This was the first Test match win for New Zealand in India since John Wright’s side won a Test at Wankhede in 1988.
However, it was not as much a concern as India had been defeated in the first Test of the series earlier too. Whether it’s against Australia in 2017 or England in 2021 and 2024, India did make a strong comeback after losing the first match and won the series handsomely. So would happen this time also, it was thought.
With India’s invincibility on the line came the second Test in Pune, and Washington Sundar was added to India’s squad to give more ammunition to India’s spin-bowling attack. While he delivered with 11 wickets in the Test, India were thrashed by Mitchell Santner who took 13 for 157 in the match and helped New Zealand secure their first-ever Test series win in India.
With 2-0 behind in the series, WTC’s final spot on the line and desperate to avoid the whitewash from the Blackcaps, India headed to the Wankhede stadium.
The Indian team had only been whitewashed in a home Test series of more than one match once — by South Africa in 1999-2000 — and never in a series of more than two Tests.
India prepared a rank turner in search of victory at Wankhede, but what they found was yet another defeat.
New Zealand withstood the onslaught of Rishabh Pant and whitewashed India in India for the first time in a Test series.
Apart from absolutely brilliant cricket from Tom Latham’s side, a series of factors contributed throughout the series to help New Zealand achieve a series of firsts on Indian soil.
All-round performance by the Kiwis
Winning a Test series in India wasn’t going to be an easy task and a complete team effort was required from New Zealand. They did exactly that.
In Bengaluru, it was the brilliance of Rachin Ravindra and Devon Convay with the bat and high-class fast-bowling by Henry and O’Rourke that contributed to New Zealand’s win. While in Pune, it was Player-of-the-match Mitchell Santner’s turn, who despite having some side soreness, bowled 29 overs on the trot in the second innings and took 6 wickets.
And at Wankhede, it was Ajaz Patel’s turn.
The ‘local boy’ finished the match with 11 wickets, and became the most successful visiting bowler at a single venue. Also Will Young made some very tough runs throughout and was chosen as the Player of the Series.
New Zealand played spin well
Gone are the days when India were known worldwide for their game against spin. New Zealand, in this series showed consistently that their defensive game against spin was much better against spin.
Whether it was Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra or Will Young, the Kiwi batters were very well prepared to play spin and did not give many easy wickets to Indian spinners.
Compared to India, New Zealand also responded better when they were put under pressure throughout the series. Consider the first Test match. In the fourth innings, while chasing 107, New Zealand were facing a Bumrah-like spell from Jasprit Bumrah where he looked like he would take a wicket on every wall, but NZ batters didn’t panic and eventually won the match by 8 wickets.
Collective failure of India’s batting
Among all, the one factor that contributed most to the embarrassing whitewash was the collective failure of India’s batting line-up. Match after match, innings after innings.
After Pune’s defeat, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said that one series defeat in 12 years should be allowed. But India faced a batting collapse in all 6 innings of three Test matches.
In 1st innings in Bengaluru, India lost all 10 wickets for 46, while in 2nd innings they lost their last 7 wickets for just 54 runs, after the Pant-Sarfaraz partnership.
In 1st innings of the Pune Test match, they went from 56-3 to 156 all out. And in 2nd innings, from 127-2 to 167-5.
In the last Test at Wankhede, India were 180-5 in the first innings, then were all out on 263. 6 wickets lost for just 83 runs. And if it was not enough, they collapsed yet again in the 2nd innings and were 29-5 while chasing 143.
WTC final a distant dream
At the beginning of the series, India had one foot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, but at the end of the series, it is now a really tough task to achieve.
India play their last series of the current WTC cycle (2023-25) Down Under from November 22.
If India is to qualify for the final of WTC, without depending on other results, for the third consecutive time, they’ll have to win at least 4 out of 5 Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and draw the one. A herculean task in itself!
Although India hae won their last 2 series in Australia, it’s never easy to defeat Australia in any condition let alone their home grounds. And when you have been handed over a 3-0 defeat at home it becomes an even bigger task, the pressure increases multifold.
However, cricket is a game of possibilities and this team has shown us consistently that when you push their back to the wall they come up with their best game. Will the coming days of Test cricket either be exciting or painful for India? Only time will tell.