Commenting on India’s disappointing loss to New Zealand in the second Test of the series in Pune, former cricketer Anil Kumble said India’s batting disappointed the hosts. Tom Latham’s New Zealand team created history on Saturday by clinching their first series win in India by beating Rohit Sharma’s side by 113 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The loss marks India’s first home Test series defeat since 2012 and ends their 18-series unbeaten run, the longest home winning sequence of any team.
New Zealand currently leads the three-match series 2-0, with the final match scheduled to be played on November 1 at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium.
In an interview with Jio Cinema, Kumble highlighted the importance of each Test match in India’s path to the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).
“I think that’s the strength of the WTC. Even though the series is over for India, each Test match still matters. They have made things more difficult for themselves. At the beginning of the series, we said we needed five wins to reach the final comfortably. But now we need four wins from our next six games, so it’s even more difficult, especially with one game against this confident New Zealand team at Wankhede and five more games in Australia,” Kumble said.
He praised India’s bowling attack and noted that the bowlers still top the WTC points table due to their ability to take 20 wickets in the series. However, he emphasized that India’s batsmen need to start scoring runs.
“India have performed very well in the last two series in Australia but qualifying is much more difficult now. They need to get their act together. The batting has been disappointing and the bowling will continue to face challenges but India are on top of the bowlers. Because they have taken 20 wickets consistently, their batting needs to step up and provide runs,” he added.
In this match, New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. Half-centuries by Devon Conway (76 off 141 balls, 11 fours) and Rachin Ravindra (65 off 105 balls, five fours and a six) took New Zealand to the lead at 197/3, with Ravichandran Ashwin (3/ 41) He is the only bowler to make an impact early on. After Conway was dismissed, Washington Sundar (7/59) used the momentum to push New Zealand to 259.
India faced the task of surpassing this modest total to secure the lead. But after Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a duck, youngsters Shubman Gill (30 off 72 balls, including 4 and a six) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (30 off 60 balls, 4 boundaries) managed a 49-run partnership. With Gill’s dismissal, Mitchell Santner took control of the Indian line-up by taking 7/53 with support from Glenn Phillips (2/26) and bowled India out for just 156 balls while Ravindra Jadeja took 46 balls (3 fours and 2 6) was the highest score. ).
In the second inning, New Zealand took a 103-run lead. An impressive 86 from skipper Tom Latham (133 balls, 10 fours) and Phillips (48 off 82 balls, 4 boundaries, 2 sixes) and Tom Blundell (41 off 83 balls, 3 fours). The support made India a difficult target. After hitting 255 in the first session of day 3, I shot 359.
Sundar (4/56) led the Indian bowling attack, with Jadeja (3/72) and Ashwin (2/97) manning the lower middle order and the tail.
Chasing 359, India started strongly with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal sharing a 62-run partnership with Shubman Gill (23 off 31 balls, 4 boundaries). But after Jaiswal was dismissed for 77 off 65 balls (9 fours and 3 sixes), India struggled against the Kiwi spinners and were bowled out for 245, a 113-run defeat. The series loss marks India’s first loss in a home series in 12 years.
Santner, who took an incredible 13 wickets (6/104 in the second innings) in the match, was outstanding, while Phillips and Ajaz Patel contributed to completing the Test two days early.
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