Ajaz Patel celebrates the final wicket as the Black Caps secured a 3-0 series win. Photo / Photosport
The Indian media have lashed out at Gautam Gambhir’s side following their 3-0 test series loss to the Black Caps. New Zealand became the first team to claim a 3-0 whitewash in India following a 25-run victory in Mumbai.
India have slipped to second on the World Test Championship standings and finish with a five-test series in Australia, seriously putting in doubt their chances of reaching a third straight WTC final.
Here’s how world media reacted to New Zealand’s historic series result:
When a team bats like India have done for five innings this series, in their own conditions, with utter lack of faith in their own techniques, where does one even begin? As if defeats in the first two Tests weren’t bad enough, the abject capitulation in the third game, chasing a modest 147 for victory, plunged the team to the humiliating depths Indian cricket hasn’t experienced in the last 90 years. New Zealand were good, very good even, but India weren’t just poor, they were abysmal.
There seemed to be no method to their batting, no guts and steel and application and determination, with the honourable exception of Rishabh Pant. To be bowled out in less than 30 overs for 121 with two and a half days left is a low Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir will find impossible to live down.
There has been a huge premium on intent and taking the game forward and on avoiding boring draws, but what wouldn’t the Indian fan, faithful and uncomplaining in a welcome break from the past but perhaps far too compromising and undemanding of accountability, give for a dull, dreary stalemate? At the very least, that would mean a meaningful batting effort which, the second innings in the first Test in Bengaluru excepted, has been conspicuous by its absence.
India have only 19 days before their next assignment, the first of five Tests against Australia in Perth. The turnaround time is limited but attitudes and mindsets must change, just as the conditions will. Otherwise, Australia too will punish them. And with far lesser grace than Latham’s commendable Kiwis.
From the outset of the series, India found themselves on the back foot. Expected to emerge victorious, they faltered against New Zealand’s spin attack, ultimately surrendering the series. The Kiwi spinners, Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel, combined for an impressive total of 28 wickets over the three matches.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have had a challenging year in 2024, with both failing to make a significant impact in Test cricket. Kohli managed only 93 runs in three matches against New Zealand, averaging a mere 15.50 – far below his usual standards. Over six matches this year, he has scored only 250 runs at an average of 22.72. Once a cornerstone of India’s batting line-up, Kohli’s prolonged slump raises concerns about his ability to anchor the innings as he once did.
Rohit’s performance was equally disappointing. He tallied just 91 runs, averaging 15.17 in the series, unable to provide the solid starts that India typically relies on. His record for 2024 stands at 588 runs from 11 matches, with a modest average of 29.40, marking a noticeable decline from his past performances.
The struggles of both Kohli and Rohit have intensified the pressure on India’s batting order, with hopes pinned on the senior players rediscovering their form ahead of the crucial Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The dismissals of key players like Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja reignited concerns about India’s vulnerability against spin.
In the final Test in Mumbai, needing 147 runs for a consolation victory, the Indian batsmen crumbled, bowled out for 121 and suffering a 25-run defeat. Ajaz Patel’s remarkable performance earned him 11 wickets in the match, epitomising New Zealand’s dominance throughout the series.
The fortress was breached a week ago, the first team in 12 years and 18 series to the feat. Here New Zealand scavenged the last vestiges of an era of India’s infallible domination at home.
In the forensic analysis of India’s defeat, the quality, bravado and resourcefulness of the Latham’s men should not be forgotten. The turners didn’t daunt them, the reputation didn’t faze them. They not only stared back at the mountain but also conquered it. As pitiable as India were in this series, the Kiwis were resolved and determined, grooved and equipped.
The end was swift. India lost the last three wickets in the space of four balls. The knockout blows had been landed much earlier. The most stinging came 15 minutes into the second session, the moment that decided the match. One that would be dissected threadbare in the days and weeks to come.
The sorry figure of 16/2 flared into 18/3 when Virat Kohli’s forward thrust found the edge of his bat and flew to the slips, where Daryll Mitchell grabbed a low catch. It ended another harrowing series for Kohli, and with the hard truth that perhaps his best days are past him. This series, he has been a shadow of a shadow, a redoubtable proof that he is a diminished force. Beneath the paining shoulders could be a tired mind too. He has lost the unflinching drive that made him.
Catholic tradition once held that sainthood was achieved only after the performance of three miracles.
An unprecedented clean sweep in India secured, a team of cricketing saints are heading back home.
The Black Caps completed their greatest series win – one of the best results for any nation in test history – by whitewashing India in their own conditions.
It was an unprecedented accomplishment, attained in unbelievable fashion, with Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips and their teammates defending a target of 147 to claim victory in the third test at Wankhede Stadium.
Only once in 91 years had India been swept at home in a multi-test series, never across three matches. Only twice in 95 years had New Zealand won a test in India, until this series began.
Confirming their status as Kiwi sporting deities, each triumph on this unforgettable tour exceeded the previous.
An eight-wicket success in Bengaluru was remarkable, but earned with the aid of unusually favourable conditions. A 113-run victory in Pune was delivered by Mitchell Santner’s astonishing 13-wicket haul, yet the excitement had been sapped long before the final ball.
Mumbai, though? The 25-run result in Mumbai capped a test that at various points belonged to the hosts, only for the suddenly unstoppable Black Caps to overcome a team who boasted 31 wins from 32 matches when chasing targets of 200 or fewer at home.
For all the focus on India’s errors and missteps, New Zealand were always within striking distance, and managed to find a different hero every time they needed them. It was first Matt Henry, followed by Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee in Bengaluru.
Mitchell Santner was the star in Pune, but support came from Tom Latham with the bat. Ajaz Patel did the damage in Mumbai, but Daryl Mitchell and Will Young stepped up with the bat. Through it all, Young with the bat and Glenn Phillips with the ball also remained pillars of support for the main cast.
Their triumph illustrated another standout facet of New Zealand cricket – with a small talent pool, players are encouraged to pick up multiple skills. Four of their batters could keep wickets and two could bowl. Two of their pacers could wield the willow to a solid degree, while all three spinners also had the ability to stick around.
New Zealand pulled off one of the most staggering series victories in Test history by completing an unprecedented whitewash of India.
New Zealand won the third Test in Mumbai by 25 runs, defending a target of just 147 thanks to the spinners Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips, who shared nine second-innings wickets. It was an amazing win in that, despite winning the toss and batting first, they conceded a first-innings deficit in conditions that suited India’s spinners.
India had not lost a series on home soil since 2012, when England beat them 2-1 in a four-Test series. India had won their previous 18 Test series at home, comfortably the longest such streak in history, losing just four of their 53 matches in India in that period. This was the first time they had been whitewashed at home in a series of three or more matches.
This was also the first time New Zealand had won three matches in any Test series – they often play shorter series.
Their former seamer Mitchell McClenaghan called it “arguably their best series win of all time”. There was little to argue about it.
India’s failed chase was also statistically relevant. It was the second-lowest target New Zealand had ever successfully defended, and the second-lowest target India had failed to chase in a defeat. While Rishabh Pant (who made 64 from 57 balls while no other batsman reached 13) was at the crease, victory looked possible for India, but he fell to a controversial bat-pad dismissal on DRS, and India crumbled. Their last three wickets went down in four balls, without a run added.
After brushing aside India, we grade the performance of the New Zealand players.