After India’s 12-year unbeaten streak in the home Test series came to a stunning end as New Zealand clinched a historic 2-0 lead with a 113-run victory at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium skipper Rohit Sharma acknowledged his team’s shortcomings saying, “we failed to respond to the pressure”. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner weaved magic with his 6-104 in the second innings on Saturday as New Zealand did the unimaginable by clinching a historic Test series win in India for the first time with a 113-run victory over the hosts. Santner, who took 7-53 in the first innings, rattled India yet again with a remarkable spell of 6-104 to end up with match figures of 13-157, the third-best match figures for a bowler from his country in Tests.
Reflecting on the series, Rohit said, “We didn’t bat well in the first innings. The pitch wasn’t bad enough. We just didn’t get close to their first innings score. As the game went on, the pitch started behaving differently. We wanted to get those runs. We lost wickets after that Gill-Yashasvi partnership. We failed to respond to the pressure,” the India skipper said in the post-match press conference.
The defeat is India’s first home Test series loss since Alastair Cook’s England side won 2-1 in 2012. The recent series opener in Bengaluru set the tone when India, bowled out for a mere 46 in the first innings, struggled to recover as New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra struck a steady century, complemented by Tim Southee’s late-order hitting. Although Sarfaraz Khan scored a maiden hundred, and Rishabh Pant added a counter-attacking 99, India suffered a lower-order collapse, setting New Zealand a modest 107-run target they chased easily, securing the first win.
“In the last two Test matches, things have gone wrong. We won 18 series before it so we had done a lot of things right. We have played on challenging pitches in India. Things happen. When you win a lot, there will be a series where you don’t execute things well. “I am not doubting anyone’s ability. I don’t want to do too much post-mortem. Batters need to trust their plans. The NZ batters showed us that if you play in a certain method it will work. They were ahead so they were high on confidence,” he added.
India’s reign of 18 consecutive home series wins, starting from a 2013 whitewash of Australia, ended as New Zealand’s clinical performance redefined the landscape. India continued to maintain the top spot in the WTC standings despite the loss, with a PCT of 62.82.
New Zealand climbed up to fourth place after this win. This was India’s fourth loss in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Pakistan climbed one spot to seventh after it beat England by nine wickets in the third Test in Rawalpindi, sealing the three-match series 2-1.
“It’s too early to think about WTC. I am hurting because we lost the game. I don’t want to think too much about too far. It’s a collective failure. If you lose a Test match, it’s about the entire unit that has to take the blame.
“If you bat for three days, you’ll win a Test match. The idea was to try to get to the score. When the pitch is doing what it is doing, then you’ll have to look for runs, and put bowlers under pressure. It didn’t work for us but it worked for NZ. I thought there was a good chance of us winning this Test. By no means, I’ll go into the mindset to draw a Test first rather than winning it,” Rohit Sharma said.
“We wanted to do as a team, try sweeps, paddles. When you do that one fielder will come behind you and then you can score runs straight. That’s what NZ did really well, played a lot of sweeps. When you play on a pitch like this, you have to find options to do things differently. We have been talking about sweeping and reverse sweeping. But eventually, when a player is batting, it is about what he is thinking. It depends on the batter to take that call,” the India captain said.
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