India thrash New Zealand by 178 runs, clinch series
Kolkata : India pulled off a brilliant all-round performance to trounce New Zealand by 178 runs in the second Test to clinch the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead on Monday. Virat Kohli’s men wrapped up the series-deciding victory on the Fourth day of the match after setting the Black Caps a mammoth target of 376 runs to chase.
The visitors showed some spark to start with but their chase floundered in the post-tea session and the side was bowled out for 197 in 81.1 overs in what was India’s 250th home Test. The home team had earlier finished its second innings at 263 in 76.5 overs.
Following Rohit Sharma’s 82-run knock, Wriddhiman Saha also picked up his second successive half-century of the match by scoring a 120-ball 58, laced with half a dozen fours. Faced with an improbable chase, New Zealand were off to a confident start before things went downhill in the final session of the day.
Opener Tom Latham top-scored for them with a 148-ball 74, which included eight hits to the fence. His innings gave New Zealand some hope of springing a surprise but off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin put paid to any such eventuality in just the second over after tea, inducing an edge off his bat which was comfortably taken by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Besides Latham, Luke Ronchi was the only one to play an innings of significance, accounting for 32 runs (60 balls, 4×4). However, rest of the Black Caps’ line-up failed to apply itself on the tricky track, exploited well by both the pacers and spinners. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were the top Indian wicket-takers with hauls of 3/82 and 3/41 respectively. Among the pacers, Mohammed Shami grabbed 3/46 in a fine concerted bowling performance.
The two teams will now move to Indore for the third Test starting October 8 which would be followed by a five-match ODI series. Having extracted reverse swing with the old ball, Shami cleaned the tail after new ball was taken in the 80th over. Trent Boult was the last wicket to fall on Monday when he tried to pull a bouncer but instead top-edged to Murali Vijay, who completed a clean catch.
New Zealand desperately missed skipper and batting talisman Kane Williamson, who was ruled out of the match owing to illness. Latham, however, stood out with a stellar knock but the left-hander lacked support at the other end, and the writing was on the wall after he was dismissed in the second over after tea. Having starred in Kanpur with a 10-wicket match haul, Ashwin, bowling with a corn in his middle finger, was once again the key on an eased-out track that looked slow, aiding little turn. Ashwin struck in the fifth ball after lunch to give India the first breakthrough by dismissing senior opener Martin Guptill (24), snapping the 55-run opening partnership.
Jadeja joined in before Ashwin took his second but Latham stayed on completing his second successive half-century and ninth overall. Latham looked in firm control of the proceedings till he took a leading edge on 66 but survived owing to confusion between Kohli and Ashwin. Kohli dived for the catch from short cover but it was a half-hearted attempt after realising that Ashwin too was going for it. But neither of them could hold onto it and Latham did not mind it. Latham, however, could not extend his vigil as Ashwin once again gave a crucial breakthrough in the second over after tea by ending the left-hander’s elegant innings.
Bowling around the wicket to left-handers, Shami got reverse swings. Having trapped Saunter LBW, Shami got a second one after Watling got out to a ripper, a lovely delivery that came back in to uproot the off-stump.
Earlier resuming on 227 for eight, India were bundled out for 263 in 76.5 overs setting New Zealand an improbable target.
The highlight of the day’s play in India’s second innings was man of the man Saha, who remained unbeaten on 58.
For the Kiwis, Trent Boult (3/38), Matt Henry (3/59) and Mitchell Santner (3/60) returned three each.
Saha had also remained not out in the first innings with a stellar 54 and he followed it up with yet another impressive knock, his fourth fifty in Test cricket.
Resuming the day on 39, Saha was watchful to start with getting himself adjusted to the condition which seemed better but the ball kept slow and sometimes low.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, at the other end, looked to go for his strokes and hit the first boundary in the seventh over of the day driving Henry in the slip cordon.
Stand-in skipper Ross Taylor brought in Neil Wagner in the 10th over of the day and the left-arm pacer gave the breakthrough in Bhuvneshwar (23; 2×4, 1×6) for his 99th scalp in his 25th Test.
At the other end, Saha remained calm and finally got to his fifty in 113 balls after a watchful stay.
He swept Santner for two delightful boundaries to get past the mark but he was left stranded when India’s last man Shami becoming Boult’s third victim. Shami was dismissed with a low catch by Latham at third gully that was referred to third umpire.
India 1st innings
All out: 316
NZ 1st innings
All out: 204
India 2nd innings
All out: 263
NZ 2nd innings
T Latham c Saha b Ashwin…………74
M Guptill lbw b Ashwin…………….24
H Nicholls c Rahane b Jadeja………24
R Taylor lbw b Ashwin…………………4
L Ronchi b Jadeja……………………..32
M Santner lbw b Shami………………9
BJ Watling b Shami…………………….1
M Henry c Kohli b Jadeja……………18
J Patel b Kumar………………………….2
N Wagner not out………………………5
T Boult c Vijay b Shami………………..4
Total: (all out)……………………….197
Bowling: B Kumar 12-4-28-1, Shami 18.1-5-46-3, Ashwin 31-6-82-3, Jadeja 20-3-41-3.
Number 1
Team India on Monday dislodged arch-rivals Pakistan to claim the numero uno spot in the ICC Test rankings.
India’s top spot is guaranteed irrespective of how the third and final Test in Indore, which will be played from 8-12 October, pans out.
Kohli’s side had entered the series against New Zealand trailing Pakistan by one point and needed to win the series to reclaim the number one position for the fourth time since the current rankings system was introduced in 2003.
India has previously been at the top of the table from November 2009 to August 2011 and then briefly during Jan-Feb 2016 and in August. To celebrate India’s number one Test ranking, it will be presented with the ICC Test mace.
STAT’S IT!
* Saha is the fifth batsman to register two unbeaten knocks in a Test match for India. He has joined Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman (twice), Bapu Nadkarni and Rahul Dravid.
* Saha has received his first Man of the Match award in 17 Tests. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the last Indian wicketkeeper to get the MoM award in Tests — 224 vs Australia at Chennai in February 2013.
* Twenty six wickets taken by the pacers is the second highest tally in a Test match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata — the highest being 30 vs Pakistan in 1998-99.
* India have contested 13 consecutive Tests without a loss at home since Dec 13, 2012.
* Since being beaten by England in two consecutive Tests — by 10 wickets at Mumbai and by 7 wickets at Kolkata in Nov/December 2012, India have won eleven and drawn two.
* India have won three consecutive Test series vs NZ in India — 1-0 in 2010-11; 2-0 in 2012-13 and 2-0 (leading) in 2016-17.
* At Eden Gardens, India have won 12 out of 40 Tests played (Lost 9 and Drawn 19) — success % 30.00. They have won their first Test out of three played vs New Zealand at Eden Gardens. The first two Tests between the two teams at this venue — in 1955-56 & 1964-65 — could not produce results.
* India have won nine out of 16 Tests played (lost 2 & drawn 5) under Virat Kohli’s captaincy — success % 56.25.
* Tom Latham (74) has registered his highest score vs India in Tests, eclipsing 58 in the first Test at Kanpur.
FREE HITS!
Nair replaces injured Dhawan
Promising Karnataka batsman Karun Nair replaced injured Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian squad for the third and final cricket Test.Dhawan was ruled out of the third Test following a minor fracture on his left thumb. “The All-India Senior Selection Committee have named batsman Karun Nair as the replacement for injured opener Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian team.”
Captain Kohli praises Saha
Describing wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha as a revelation for the Indian Test cricket side after it registered an empahtic win over New Zeland in the second Test here, captain Virat Kohli on Monday praised him, “Saha is brilliant. He is the best keeper in the country right now. He is doing a great job in Test cricket.”
‘Crowd supports matters’
IIndia captain Virat Kohli was seen egging on the 12,000-odd turnout, “I think it makes a massive difference. We experience that when you go to Australia, England, South Africa, they get a couple of wickets and the crowd gets really loud and as a batsman you understand that creates a lot of pressure.”
BCCI congratulates Team India
Anurag Thakur said: “I congratulate the Team India for their dominant show in Test cricket, which is the pinnacle of sport. The ICC Test rankings rightly reflect the impressive performance Virat Kohli and his boys have displayed since the overseas tour of Sri Lanka, where they registered a series victory after 22 years.”
