New Zealand continued their dominance at home as they thumped India by seven wickets in less than three days to complete a memorable series win at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday. The victory ensured a whitewash for the Black Caps across both ODI and test formats after they had been blanked 5-0 in the T-20’s.
Here are our talking points from the second test.
Uncharacteristically poor tour for Virat Kohli.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s woeful run with the bat continued as he was dismissed cheaply yet again in both innings here. In the test series, Kohli had scores of 2, 19, 3 & 14 respectively. He was dismissed leg before wicket twice here, with Tim Southee accounting for him in the first innings and Colin de Grandhomme claiming his scalp in the second.
Kohli’s tally for the series was only 38 runs- even tailender Mohammed Shami (44) scored more than him.
Kyle Jamieson’s handy runs down the order hurt India.
India’s bowlers roared back on the second morning, reducing the Black Caps to 153/7 shortly after lunch. However Kyle Jamieson again rescued the hosts by scoring 49 very handy runs to lift the home side to 235. He also claimed a five wicket haul in the first innings, including the key wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and young Prithvi Shaw, both of whom had scored half centuries and were looking threatening for more.
Jamieson was also excellent at the Basin Reserve, and this has been a fine debut series in the longest format of the game for the lanky pacer.
Ravindra Jadeja’s spectacular effort in the field
There were very few positives for Team India in this game, but Ravindra Jadeja’s stunning catch to dismiss Neil Wagner was one of them. It was reminiscent of Ben Stokes’ catch against South Africa during the 2019 World Cup.
Hanuma Vihari had offered Wagner a reprieve earlier in the game by dropping a sitter at fine leg. The drop cost India 38 runs before Jadeja ended the partnership by pulling off a one-handed stunner.
Tom Latham and Tom Blundell outshine their Indian counterparts
New Zealand’s duo of Tom Latham and Blundell outshone India’s opening pair of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal in both innings. Chasing a target of 132 on a pitch that still had plenty in it for the bowlers, the two Tom’s ensured that there were no hiccups at all for the Black Caps. Their stand of 103 was the the only partnership over 100 across the entire test. Two of the top three partnerships in this game belonged to them, and it played a massive role in New Zealand’s victory.
(Via Black Caps on Twitter)
India’s next assignment will be in the 50 over format at home against South Africa beginning March 12 in Dharamshala.