New Delhi: New Zealand beat India by 113 runs in the second Test match at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Saturday, October 26. Tom Latham and Co. won their first Test series in India. New Zealand scored 259 runs in the first innings in the first innings. Conway and Rachin Ravindra batted well and scored brilliant half-centuries. Washington Sundar took 7 wickets in the first innings.
The Men in Blue only managed to score 156 runs in the first innings. Tim Southee dismissed Rohit Sharma but it was Santner who troubled Indian batters and dismissed Kohli, Gill and Sarfaraz. He took 7 wickets while Glenn Phillips also picked up 2 wickets. Tom Latham and Co. were in the driving seat after Team India’s failure in the first innings. Tom Latham batted with positive intent and scored 86 runs off 133 balls on a tough pitch. Glenn Phillips and Tom Latham also made crucial contributions with the bat in the second innings. Washington Sundar delivered another great performance and took 6 wickets.
Chasing the massive target of 358 runs, Santner removed Rohit Sharma on 8 runs but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Gill built a 62-run partnership for the second wicket. Santner once again troubled Indian batters and dismissed Kohli, Jaiswal and Gill, putting the Men in Blue under big pressure. Ravindra Jadeja tried to build a partnership with Ashwin and Akash Deep but Ajaz Patel and Santner dismissed India’s lower order as Rohit and Co. got all out for 245 runs.
‘It’s disappointing, not what we expected’: Rohit Sharma
After the match, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said that he won’t do much postmortem of this match but batters need to take some more responsibility. He further said that it is disappointing to lose the series and the team didn’t expected this.
“I do not doubt anyone’s ability. I won’t do much postmortem of this, but batters must come with their plans and trust on the plans like New Zealand batters showed. It’s disappointing. It’s not what we expected. We got to give credit to New Zealand as they played better than us. We failed to respond to those challenges” Rohit said in the post-match press conference.
‘It’s a collective failure, won’t put blame on just the batters or the bowlers’: Rohit Sharma
Rohit further added that the team will try to win the last Test at Wankhede. He also said that it’s a collective team failure and he’s not somebody who just blame the batters and bowlers.
“We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test. It’s a collective failure. I’m not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers. We will come out with better intent, better ideas and better methods at Wankhede,” he added.
