On Saturday, the New Zealand team achieved a cricketing high, as it defeated the lackluster Indian team at home, winning a test series in India for the first time in 70 years. With a 113 run victory in the bag the black caps now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3 match series.
After the shock of Bangalore, now its the shame of Pune that will be remembered after this tour. The Indian team this time failed to even muster a proper fight. The star studded Indian batting lineup once again continued to fall like ninepins, apart from Jaiswal and Jadeja none of the Indian batters even tallied a decent score.
The stalwarts Rohit and Kohli after their failures in the first innings, again failed to notch up a decent score, as one after the other the Indian batters fell to the spin of Mitchell Santner. The black caps bowler notched 13 wickets in the match as the Indian team chasing 359 were all out on 245. The first test series loss at home for the men in blue since 2012.
India’s last Test series defeat at home came against Alastair Cook’s England when the visitors won 2-1 in December 2012. Since then India had won 18 Test series on trot at home. Since that defeat in 2012, Team India had enjoyed 4331 days being unbeaten at home in Test series till it came to an end on Saturday.
The ignominous defeat aside, serious questions will be raised over the Gautam Gambhir management. The former Indian opener has gathered his own coaching staff and has his own personnel at his disposal, but the results have been shocking to say the least. The team lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka in the One day series struggling to notch up a basic 200 score. Now the test team is falling apart like a pack of cards.
The number one test team that has looked largely invincible for the past few years now looks a completely ordinary unit. The bowlers seem ineffective, the batsmen completely stunned by every visiting pacer and spinner. The Bangladesh series should have served as a wake up call for the team but instead the cracks were papered over by some quality individual performances.
Now the current series is lost regardless of the final test match, the WTC final place that looked almost assured after the thumping series win against England, now seems to be drifting towards uncertainty. Gambhir, Rohit, Kohli and co must find a way to get back the team’s mojo before the looming Border Gavaskar series against Australia, or more humiliations are lying in store
