This came as a huge setback to India’s aspirations of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final as the Rohit Sharma-led team suffered an embarrassing eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in the series opener played in Bengaluru on Sunday. While 107 runs were to be scored in the second innings, at no point did New Zealand look found wanting, and Indian bowlers failed to dismiss them at the needed times. As a result, India will have to win five from their remaining seven matches in order to qualify for a place in the WTC Final. Rohit and the rest managed to remain at the pole position in the points table however their cushion was significantly reduced. How can anyone forget the last two Tests against New Zealand and that before flying to Australia for the five Test match series.
India eased off but still managed to stay atop the World Test Championship (WTC) rankings, even with the eight wicket defeat by New Zealand in the first match of the series.
The percentage of team India before this humiliating experience in Bengaluru was 68.06 percent, and now they will try to straighten things out before the two Tests that follow and the fifth series in Australia at the end of this year.
The Kiwis scored the last needed 107 runs without breaking a sweat, with the win pushing the team up the…. from sixth to fourth position in the revised table with a 44.44 win-loss ratio.
Currently, the teams that can be a possible threat to India on the table are Australia’s current winning team and Sri Lanka. Pat Cummins-led Australia holds second position at 62.50 percent and the South Asian country that recently cleaned 3 0 series against New Zealand is placed with 55.56 percent.
Nevertheless, New Zealand’s victory against India has placed the Kiwis back in contention for their second World Test Championship final as they leapfrogged in the standings above England and South Africa to reclaim the fourth position.
New Zealand has agreed to host England for three tests in November and December, and may well be banking on competition for a place in the top two, with two of their remaining matches against India yielding favorable results.
After the first day of the test match when India registered a record low score of 46, New Zealand scored 402 runs thanks to Rachin Ravindra’s century (134) and Tim Southee’s quickfire 65 runs towards the end.
India made a spirited reply in the second essay, with Sarfaraz Khan (150) and Rishabh Pant (99) leading an impressive fightback, until the second new ball changed the game.
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