3-0 Series Whitewash: India’s Batting Bankruptcy Exposed against New Zealand
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 3: India’s batting woes was badly exposed at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai as Rohit Sharma’s men for the first time in the history of Indian cricket suffered a humiliating series white wash with the team folding up for just 121 runs in the second innings fifty-three minutes into the second session of the third day of the third test against New Zealand on Sunday.
Chasing a modest target of 147 to win the third test after India managed to bowl out New Zealand for 174 in the second innings on Sunday morning, India’s top order batting once again collapsed for the fifth time in the three-match series losing top five wickets for a mere 29 runs with only wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant helped by his unconventional shots and forging a brief 42-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth wicket managed to keep India’s hopes afloat.
But once Pant departed following a disputed bat and pad catch behind the stumps soon after the lunch break with the scoreboard reading at 106 for seven wickets, it was a matter of time before India was to suffer its humiliating series white wash as New Zealand vociferously celebrated the occasion in the stunned stadium. A history had been created as no team had been able to win all the Test matches in India in a series featuring three or more Test matches in nine decades.
Tom Latham’s New Zealand etched its name in the annals of history with an emphatic 25-run victory, while defending a tricky target of 147. Ajaz’s six-wicket haul – and a match haul of 11 wickets – must have been sweeter than the Perfect 10 he achieved here three years ago since it came in a winning effort.
But the win had been far from assured on a track that was turning hostile for batting until Rishabh Pant was at the crease. Soon after India wrapped up the last Kiwi wicket 14 balls into the day’s play and Ravindra Jadeja completing his second fifer of the game, Ajaz took charge.
Rohit Sharma (mistimed pull off Matt Henry), Shubman Gill (shouldering one that held its line and crashed into off-stump) and Virat Kohli (drawn forward to edge one to Daryl Mitchell at slip) were dismissed in the sixth over. In came Pant at 18 for three and the hopes of surpassing Mt. 147 on a nightmarish pitch hinged on Pant’s broad shoulders. While he started with a lofted straight-drive, the next two overs saw Yashasvi Jaiswal (missed turn to be adjudged lbw off offie Glenn Phillips) and Sarfaraz Khan (sweeping a full-toss by Ajaz straight to deep square-leg) and India was reeling at 29 for five.
Pant then took charge and took calculated risks, especially against Ajaz, and kept India in the hunt. Ravindra Jadeja was then pouched smartly by a lunging Will Young at forward short-leg but with Pant on song and Washington for company, India was 92 for six at lunch.
Fourteen minutes after resumption, Pant was controversially adjudged caught-behind. While he turned his bat close to the pad, Kiwis preferred the DRS after the on-field decision went in Pant’s favour. The TV umpire then reversed the decision with Pant aghast at having been convinced that it was his bat – not the ball – hitting the pad that resulted in a spike.
Ashwin and Washington then took singles patiently for the next half hour. Ashwin even showcased his presence of mind, by reverse-flicking the ball after defending Phillips that was rolling on to the stumps. But Ashwin’s rush of blood – a reverse-sweep off the offie resulted in him being caught-behind. Phillips bowled Akash Deep through the gate off the next ball before Ajaz picked his sixth of the innings by bowling Washington out.
India captain Rohit Sharma didn’t mince words as he reflected on the team’s horrific 0-3 Test series loss at home against New Zealand. After completely being outplayed by the Kiwis in the first two Tests, India looked to have done enough in the Wankhede encounter but the batters hit self-destruct yet again. Barring Rishabh Pant, no other Indian batter managed to withstand the pressure created by the Kiwi spinners. Rohit Sharma also admitted after the match that his team failed to fire collectively.
“Yeah, absolutely, you know, losing a series, losing a Test is never easy, it’s something that’s not easily digestible,” Rohit said while speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony. “Again, we didn’t play our best cricket, we know and we have to accept. They (New Zealand) did so much better than us. We made a lot of mistakes and we’ll have to accept it. We didn’t put enough runs on the board in the 1st innings (in Bengaluru and Pune) and we were behind in the game, here, we got a 30-run lead, we thought we were ahead, the target was achievable as well, we had to do better though.”
When asked about his own performances, particularly from the attacking style point of view that Rohit displayed throughout the series, he admitted that such things don’t look good when teams don’t win. “You want runs on the board as well, that’s something that was there in my mind (on his own batting today), it didn’t come off and when it happens, it doesn’t look great. There are certain ideas on my mind when I go to bat, but in this series, it didn’t come off and that’s disappointing for me,” he said.
Also, I wasn’t at my best with both bat and as a captain, that’s something that’ll rankle me. But, we didn’t perform well collectively and that’s the reason for these losses,” Rohit admitted. “It is a concern when seniors aren’t scoring runs. But what’s done is done. As a player, as a captain, as the team, we all have to look forward and see how we can correct what we didn’t manage to achieve here. We have an opportunity to do something special in Australia. We’ll focus on that now,” Rohit Sharma said after the Test match in Mumbai.
Brief Scorres:
New Zealand 235 and 174
India 263 and 121
