New Delhi: The thought of India staring at a Test series whitewash at their own backyard is as unthinkable as it is improbable. But New Zealand have raised that very prospect with victories in Bengaluru and Pune and would go for the kill in the third and final game of the series in Mumbai from Friday.
The touring team’s skipper Tom Latham insisted that ‘Kiwi polish’ was not on their mind on the eve of the match. But not everyday does a visiting get such an opportunity, so no matter what Latham says New Zealand wouldn’t need a second invitation to twist the knife on the hurting Indians.
Not only pride, India have never been whitewashed in a Test series of three or more Tests at home. So head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit Sharma would do everything not to be part of an inglorious history.
In order to avoid it, the hosts have again fallen back on their tried and tested formula of preparing a turning track and spinning a web around the Kiwis though it backfired spectacularly in the first and second Tests.
Spin woes
It has led to a perception of India’s diminishing ability to play spinners on turning tracks, a sacrilegious thought even a few years ago. Gambhir attributes proliferation of T20s for the degradation among Indian batters.
“Foundation of your batting in Test cricket has to be defence. Probably a lot to do with playing on flat wickets in T20 cricket,” he said.
“We will have the same issues with a lot of other teams as well because the more T20 cricket is played, the less people will start defending.”
With India still needing four wins in their six remaining Test matches of the 2023-25 cycle to qualify for the World Test Championship for the third consecutive time, they must produce a much improved performance.
Focus will be on skipper Rohit and star Virat Kohli, the veteran duo copping a lot of criticism after failign to fire in any of the four innings of the first two matches, as has the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
“I am not going to sugarcoat that it is hurting. It should hurt and that hurt will make us better. What is wrong in being in this position?,” Gambhir said.
Still in early stages of his tenure, Gambhir wouldn’t want a whitewash to be part of his coaching resume. With that in mind, India have opted for another turner at the Wankhede Stadium where the pitch is made of red soil that offers bounce as well.
It is a call that can come back to haunt them as the last time India hosted the Black Caps in Mumbai, Ajaz Patel became only third bowler in Test cricket’s history to claim all 10 wickets in an innings.
When Gambhir made his Test debut 20 years ago, the ploy worked like a dream against Australia. How Gambhir wishes that part of history gets repeated in the next five days.
Teams (from):
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Mark Chapman, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Blundell (wk), Ajaz Patel, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, William O’Rourke, Jacob Duffy.
Match begins at 9:30am IST
Live on Sports 18, live streaming on Jio Cinema
