New Delhi: New Zealand beat India by 8 wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, October 20. Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Matt Henry and William ORourkee made crucial contributions for their team and helped them to win their first Test in India since 1988.
Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan played crucial innings and helped India recover from the first innings blunder. But New Zealand did a sensational job in the match and picked up 20 wickets to win the Bengaluru Test.
Indian batters failed to counter new ball threat
Indian batters struggled against the new ball in both innings. The Men in Blue bundled out for 46 runs in the first innings after struggling to score runs in the overcast conditions. Matt Henry took 5 wickets and William O’Rourkee picked up 4 wickets. Five Indian batters were dismissed on a duck while only two managed to cross the 10-run mark in the first innings.
In the second innings, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant smashed Kiwi bowlers all around the park and were scoring at a run rate of 4.60. They stitched a 136-run partnership for the fourth wicket but things changed when New Zealand took the second new ball.
Rishabh and Sarfaraz looked clueless against the New Zealand pacers and struggled to get their bat on the ball. Southee and O Rourke removed both set batters and Team India collapsed from 408/4 to 462/10 in just 15 overs.
Tom Latham and Co. give India a reality check
Rohit and Co. whitewashed Bangladesh in the two-match Test series at home and were riding high on confidence ahead of the New Zealand series. But Tom Latham and Co. showed great determination against India after losing the Test series against Sri Lanka. The Blackcaps challenged the Men in Blue in all aspects of the game. Latham’s decision-making and tactics were spot-on in Bengaluru.
He managed his bowlers brilliantly and the Kiwi batters also showed a mirror to Indian spinners and played counter-attacking cricket against them. Ravichandran Ashwin won the Player of the Series award for his all-round performance was taken to the cleaners by New Zealand batters. He conceded 100 runs in the 18 overs, taking only one wicket in the match. Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav also conceded a lot of runs in the match.
Rohit Sharma misjudged conditions
Indian captain Rohit Sharma failed to read the conditions and opted to bat first in the overcast conditions on a pitch that remained under covers for a full day. His decision quickly backfired when the team lost three big wickets in just first 10 overs. India’s tactics to play three spinners also didn’t work out in the match. Rohit Sharma in a press conference admitted his mistake and said that it was a misjudgment on his part.
“We thought it wouldn’t help the seamers much after the first session or so. There wasn’t much grass either. We expected it to be much flatter than it turned out to be. It was a misjudgment on my part, and I couldn’t read the pitch well” Rohit said in a press conference on Day 2.
