Blackcaps In India: First Test Debrief
SliNkY SaNtnER
Martin Guptill failed at the top of the order yet again and the Blackcaps lost the first Test against India, in India.
Neither was all that surprising and if you had built up hope of some runs from Guptill or of a Blackcaps victory, you're a wee bit silly.
I refuse to concern myself too much with the work of Guptill in this Blackcaps Test team because there are far more interesting and worrisome aspects of the Blackcaps team than Guptill. In fact, I don't really care what happens from this point on and the debate about Guptill's position at the top of the batting card is rather boring because anyone in this current squad that is picked to replace Guptill, is nothing more than a short-term option to plug a hole.
If Jeet Raval was in India, I'd be excited to see him get a run but with no genuine long-term opening option in India, we might as well leave Guppy there to pinch-hit. All the best Gup.
Of course we should feel disappointed that our Blackcaps lost this first Test, however we also need to keep in mind that this Blackcaps team has not performed very well against quality opposition. Nor have the Blackcaps done too well in 2016, oh and playing against India in India is perhaps the toughest challenge in Test cricket at the moment. Just ask South Africa, who went to India for four Tests last year and left 0-1-3 (3 losses and a draw), so to expect our Blackcaps to taste success was and is pretty wishful.
India have two of the best spinners in the world and when you give Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja the ball in India, they are an unstoppable force. We knew that heading into this Test and it proved to be the case with 16 wickets between them. Jadeja took 5-for in the first innings and Ashwin took 6-for in the second innings to go with his 4 wickets in the first.
As a spin-duo, they have all the tools and tricks: big spin, accuracy and variation. Jadeja went for 2.14rpo and 1.70rpo, delivering a consistently agitating line and length while also enjoying some major tweak, then you have Ashwin who's gotta be considered the best spinner in the world. Ashwin sent Williamson back to the sheds twice, their best bowler dismissing our best batsmen with some hefty off-spin, but then the kiwi batsmen also had to handle Ashwin's full array of variations. Ish Sodhi was dismissed in the second innings by a swinging medium-pacer bowled by Ashwin and Ashwin's ability to spin the ball both ways, switch up his flight, swing a seam-up arm-ball and serve some rip-snorting offies is freakish.
Many Test batsmen have and will continue to struggle to handle, let alone dominate the Ashwin x Jadeja combo so there's no real shame in what happen to the Blackcaps batsmen here.
That's why I'm still a little chuffed with what the Blackcaps did with the bat as a few kiwi lads scored runs, in the first Test of a tough series in a hostile environment. Tom Latham and Kane Williamson scored half-centuries in the first innings and showed that they have the tools - mainly via the sweep shot - to fight back against spin, especially as India's spinners featured early in the innings. What stood out for Latham and Williamson was their ability to defend, which is different to how they would usually defend in our conditions where they'd rely on the leave. India's spinners attack the stumps and the ability to play the ball late, softly dabbing it away from danger is incredibly important and Latham especially, showed that he has the technique to play the anchor role.
Luke Ronchi then had the highest strike-rate of any kiwi batsman to score over 25 in this Test, with his 80 in the second innings coming at a strike-rate of 66.66. It's hard not to like Ronchi at No.5 in these conditions as he's a counter-attacker and he's a wicket-keeper, which means that he's got that knack of loving the pull/cut shot. Ronchi is also highly experienced and his ability to rock back swiftly and pounce on anything slightly shorter from India's spinners was a pleasure to watch. There's a rugged touch to what Ronchi does and you feel as though he's not going to give up his wicket easily, mainly thanks to the fact that with his experience and ability, he's best-equipped to handle what India throw at him.
I enjoyed this Test because Mitchell Santner finally flexed, showing off his ability with bat and ball. Santner hit 71 (off 172 balls) in the second innings and even his 32 in the first innings came off 107 balls, which meant that we weren't seeing the same Santner who loves to score at a brisk rate here. Santner was good enough to defend good balls and then pounce on anything slightly loose, elegantly playing in the 'V' and generally relishing the challenge posed by India's spin-duo.
Up to this point, Santner hadn't hit a Test 50 and his highest score was a 45 in Adelaide last year. We could all see that Santner looked good with bat in hand, however now he's got substantial score to his name and more importantly, in tough conditions when most of the other Blackcaps batsmen failed.
Let's not forget that Santner was also our best bowler in this Test. Santner took 3 wickets at 4.08rpo in the first innings and then 2 wickets at 2.44rpo in the second innings. Mark Craig was the only bowler (24 overs) to bowl more than Santner's 23 overs in the first innings and Santner then bowled almost 10 more overs (32.2) than Craig in the second innings as Santner was called upon to do a big ol' job with the ball - because he's our best spinner.
While Santner is definitely still learning his craft, the same issues remained with Craig and Sodhi. Neither of them is capable of serving up the consistency required to dominate quality batting line ups and until we see them eliminate the one or two bad balls in every over, they will play second-fiddle to Santner. Sodhi delivered the least number of dot-balls in either innings of the kiwi spinners, which was (and has previously) been countered by his wickets as he picked up a wicket in the first innings and then 2 in the second. Craig's less of a wicket-taking threat, however he was more economical ... he's goneskees now though so meh.
Our spinners aren't in the same realm as Ashwin or Jadeja, especially in their home conditions. That coupled with the fact that the Blackcaps are yet to impress against quality opposition, meant that a first up Test loss was always the likely scenario and what really mattered for me was if there were things that we could work with moving forward in this series.
And that's exactly what we got as Santner finally enjoyed some all-round success, which he's shown glimpses of in Test cricket. A few of other batsmen also scored runs and that's a great sign as they adapted to conditions and implemented a few tactics or skills required to be successful in India. We can only assume that Sodhi and Santner will get better with the ball as they are both young spinners who now have a Test against a confident Indian batting line up, in India to their name and we can't forget that a certain Lord Jeetz will now be joining them.
Keep ya heads up folks. This Blackcaps team isn't even close to being a finished product just yet and we're looking for improvements as this youngish group continues to gain experience; three of the four key performers are younger lads and that's fairly exciting.