India suffer hammer blow in quest to save series clean sweep against New Zealand

New Delhi: India’s hopes of saving a series clean sweep against New Zealand suffered a hammer blow as star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the third and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Bumrah, suffering from a viral illness, failed to recover in time for the crucial clash. While India have already lost the series 0-2, the third Test holds huge significance for Rohit Sharma’s men in their pursuit of a third successive World Test Championship final.

Bumrah’s absence means India will be without their best wicket-taking option against a resistant Kiwi side, which has made Indian bowlers suffer in the opening two Tests.

It is also a massive blow in India’s quest to save an embarrassing whitewash at home. Never since the turn of the millennium, has India been clean-swept at home as the last whitewash happened 24 years ago. The last time India were clean-swept in a Test series on home soil was in 2000 against South Africa.

Having ended India’s extraordinary home record of 18 successive Test series wins at home, the Kiwis will look to pile more misery on Rohit Sharma’s men.

Kiwis opt to bat at Wankhede

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and opted to bat first at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Kiwis made two changes to their playing XI as fit-again Matt Henry replaced Tim Southee while Mitchell Santner, who picked up 13 wickets in the second Test at Pune, missed out due to a side strain. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi was included in the team in place of the left-arm spinner.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj replaced Bumrah in the Indian playing X1 as India picked two pacers and three spinners. Kuldeep Yadav continued to sit on the bench for the second successive game.

While India (62.83 PCT%) lead the WTC table ahead of Australia (62.50 PCT%), and Sri Lanka (55.56 PCT%), they need to win four out of the six matches remaining in the current cycle in their pursuit of WTC 2023-25 final.

Teams:

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.

New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke