Mumbai: Minutes after New Zealand had silenced the nearly 20,000 India supporters in the Wankhede Stadium, the ground staff brought out the sprinklers. One couldn’t but feel an irony in that, considering that the home side had summoned yet another dry, turning pitch to try and transform their fortunes in the series. India’s fourth innings batting capitulation for 121 runs in just over two-and-a-half hours on the third afternoon of the final Test was damning evidence of how wrong it had all gone.
It was one of the many risks Rohit Sharma’s India took in the series that backfired, finishing in a series sweep for the Kiwis.
Tactics first. Winning on spin-friendly pitches has been India’s winning formula. This home advantage, however, is now only a notional concept. Visiting teams don’t come with club-level spinners anymore, and Indian batters have become susceptible on turning tracks. Losses against Australia in Indore last year, and to England in Hyderabad this year, had served as a warning. The Rohit-Rahul Dravid think tank had course corrected the strategy.
Rohit and new head coach Gautam Gambhir though stuck to their guns, and the opposition stole a march over the hosts.
“What we want changes from series to series. We played on really good pitches against England. This time around, we felt that this was the right thing for us to do as a team,” Rohit told the media after the Test. “This is the only time where we have fallen short in terms of what we wanted to achieve.”
Indian team insiders though indicate that the Wankhede pitch didn’t exactly play the way they had anticipated. Even if that was true, pitch making is not an exact science. More concerning is the Indian batters not trusting their defence game anymore.
On Sunday, only Rishabh Pant stood against New Zealand attaining their highest peak – a 3-0 sweep against India in India. The left-handed daredevil swept and reverse swept, cut and pulled, forced the spinners to cut their length by half and played with their ego. For 90 minutes while he was there, India had hope. Once he fell for 64 (57b, 9×4, 1×6) to a contentious caught behind DRS decision off Ajaz Patel, India’s hopes were extinguished.
Until then, Pant had played a brave innings countering spin, bounce and Ajaz’s guile – the left-arm spinner delivered a 11-wicket haul to back up his 14 wickets in the 2021 Test here. The more established batters, including Virat Kohli and Rohit, were never at home against spinners – Glenn Phillips and Ish Sodhi were the others. Sodhi removed Pant after a first-innings 60.
Rohit started on overdrive, stepping out against Matt Henry’s pace once too often, until he miscued his favourite pull shot. Gone for 11 in 11 balls. Gill couldn’t build on a disciplined 90 from the previous day, shouldering arms to an Ajaz straighter one to be bowled for one run. Kohli (1) played forward, but Ajaz found the outer edge and it was lapped up at slip. Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) too couldn’t hang around. Sarfaraz Khan (1) made it too easy, sweeping a full toss straight to deep midwicket.
Crumbling like a pack of cards, India’s batting effort was a pale shadow of the once domineering players of spin, all sharp eye, soft hands and quick feet. It was here 20 years ago that India beat Australia on a batting graveyard against spin, thanks to sublime second innings batting by VVS Laxman (69) and Sachin Tendulkar (55). India scored 203 to set a 107-run target for Australia and won by 13 runs.
Full credit to New Zealand for exploiting Indian weaknesses to the hilt. India’s choice of pitches in Pune and Mumbai limited the effectiveness of pace ace Jasprit Bumrah – he was rested for the Mumbai Test. In Bengaluru, Kiwi quicks rattled India in both innings with the new ball.
“That wicket in Bangalore was a pretty tricky one. Our team did a fantastic job in terms of what we were able to achieve. We knew today, India was going to come hard. They did that in Pune, and again today. We managed to get the results which was really nice,” New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said.
“New Zealand won the series,” Rohit said, when asked if it felt that India had lost it. “They are a very clinical unit. I’ve seen it over the years, and they are very smart with their games. They understand what needs to be done. They keep their plan very simple. They don’t complicate things. And you’ve got to give credit to them. They played better than us, how we batted, bowled better than us.”
Having failed the spin inquest at home, it will be trial by fire against Australia’s pacers next. India must win four of the five Tests in Australia to stay on course for the World Test Championship finalt. Their biggest worry will be a lack of form of the two senior batters. Rohit made only 133 runs and Kohli 192 in the 10 innings this series.
Pant may bring in his fiery ways, but he can’t be left to be the lone ranger.