BENGALURU: A thick cloud cover and the omnipresent threat of rain on Sunday suggested conditions were ripe for India’s quicks to pick off New Zealand on the final day of an engrossing first Test.
It was not lost on Rohit Sharma and his men. The way the skipper had protested the umpires decision of offering the light to New Zealand’s openers just before rain came down in buckets at the fag end on the penultimate day suggested as much.
But while Jasprit Bumrah, especially, swung the ball prodigiously and asked the hard questions, the first innings failure with the bat came back to haunt the Indian team.The Black Caps withstood that assault, eventually easing to an eight-wicket win with two sessions to spare.
Latham and his men ended a 36-year-old wait for a win on Indian soil. Their last Test victory was in 1988 when a John Wright-led side registered a 136-run win over Dilip Vengsarkar’s team at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
New Zealand also became the third team in Test cricket after Australia and England to thump India at home in over a decade. It was also their first Test win in four attempts at the venue.
The target of 107 was too modest although morning rain left New Zealand nervous as the start of play was delayed by an hour.
When play did begin, the visitors lost Latham when a length delivery from Bumrah nipped back, and the skipper was caught in front. India’s hopes soared with that early wicket. Bumrah struck again, removing a battling Devon Conway (17) by trapping him leg before. New Zealand were still 72 runs behind at that point.
But while Bumrah was dangerous, Siraj at the other end struggled a bit as did the spinners when the quicks ended their opening spells.
Man of the match and first innings centurion Rachin Ravindra (39 n.o) settled the nerves alongside Will Young (48 n.o) and eased the strain in the New Zealand dressing room by sneaking a boundary off Bumrah through gully and backing it up with another flick through midwicket. That was when India’s hopes began to evaporate.
The spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav only hastened the visitor’s victory march. With menacing clouds hovering around, the Kiwis wanted to leave nothing to chance. Young and Ravindra attacked the slow bowlers, with the former highlighting the duo’s dominance by clobbering Kuldeep for a six over mid-wicket.
Strangely, go-to spinner R Ashwin was brought on when New Zealand needed 10 runs to win. Ashwin could only delay the inevitable.
While the loss is bound to hurt, Rohit later admitted that there were plenty of gains. Coming back from being bowled out for 46 to scoring 462 with two tenacious talents – Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant-leading the charge, augurs well for India. It helped the hosts to push the rain-affected match to the fifth day.
In retrospect, India will analyse the twin collapses – the mayhem in the first innings and the loss of seven wickets for 54 runs in their second essay.
The loss did not alter India’s position on top of the World Test Championship table (98 points; 68.06 PCT). It propelled New Zealand to the fourth position (48 pts; 44.44). With five Tests in hand in the current cycle, the Kiwis have some catching up to do.
GILL AND SHAMI HIT THE NETS
Less than an hour after the match, it was clear India wanted to put the loss behind as Shubham Gill, who missed the Test due to a stiff neck, started practising on the centre pitch. Also making an appearance at the nets was a heavily strapped Mohammed Shami, who has been sidelined due to a knee injury.
TNN
WASHINGTON ADDED TO INDIA SQUAD
Tamil Nadu allrounder Washington Sundar was on Sunday added to the India squad for the remaining two Tests against New Zealand.
The 25-year-old’s inclusion comes after his 152 for Tamil Nadu in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Delhi. Washington had played a crucial role in India’s historic win against Australia at the Gabba.
SQUAD: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav. Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar
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