New Zealand vs India Third Test Debrief
The smallest Test playing nation in the world won the first World Test Championship and now we can now add a 3-0 series sweep in India to New Zealand's glorious achievements in Test cricket since the pandemic started this decade. Aotearoa's Blackcaps endured the toughest conditions of their Indian tour in Mumbai and once again epitomised 'grit' with tricky batting backed up by persistence and patience with the ball.
Let's slide back to the WTC glory first though, which was all about Aotearoa's golden generation of cricketers finally tasting success. That was supposed to be a fitting farewell to some of New Zealand's best cricketers. Some veterans retired, others were phased out and a few lads whipped up the cricketing anxiety of other nations by opting out of NZ Cricket contracts.
Now here we are and the Blackcaps have just rolled India in three Tests. The lows make the highs so juicy and while the start of a new wave of Blackcaps cricket was a grind, the smallest Test playing nation shook up the cricketing world once again. From the team who played in the WTC final vs India back in 2021, Tom Latham and Devon Conway were the only lads who played in Mumbai.
Add in Tim Southee who contributed to winning mahi in this series and there are three lads in the Test squad who toured India that played in the 2021 WTC final. India's team that lost to New Zealand in that WTC final had Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravinchandran Ashwin playing in Mumbai, plus Jasprit Bumrah who played the first two Tests like Southee.
That's two kiwis from their WTC final win playing in Mumbai and six for India. Since the WTC final in 2021 there have been Test debuts for Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips and Will O'Rourke. Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell and Matt Henry have settled as 1st 11 Test cricketers, while Will Young has tapped into the purest kiwi mana by ensuring he was ready for any opportunity and he did so with zero fuss.
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Aotearoa didn't play a spinner in their WTC final win because they didn't need to. Like Young's patience in preparing for his limited opportunities, spinners Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner have sharpened their Test bowling skills knowing that they won't play much/at all in Aotearoa. The beauty of this Blackcaps group is how ready they were to step up and like the endurance shown to absorb tough patches of a day or Test, these players battled through Test losses while maintaining their work ethic and positive outlook.
Blackcaps scored 235 runs in the first innings with Will Young (71) and Daryl Mitchell (82) leading the run-scoring. Ajaz Patel took 5 wickets to lead Aotearoa's bowling effort and restrict India to 263. Young added 51 runs in the second innings while Conway (22), Mitchell (21) and Phillips (26) chimed in with important runs. Patel snared 6w and Phillips took 3w in the final innings to seal the win.
Young had got starts in every innings of this series before leading New Zealand for runs in Mumbai. Mitchell also had a start in every innings, before and after his knock of 82 runs. Patel snared 4w in his three outings prior to the Mumbai Test, before taking 11w in the third Test and Phillips saved his best bowling mahi for the final day of the tour.
In the three Tests, Aotearoa and India scored 300+ runs once each. That's 12 innings and two were over 300 runs (462 for India followed by 402 for NZ in Bangalore) and along with Ravindra being the only kiwi to hit a century in this series, the benchmark for run-scoring contributions needs to be lowered.
Lots of wickets were taken and the last innings of the first Test was the only innings of this series in which the batting team was not dismissed. Lots of wickets, but Patel and Phillips were the only Blackcaps to bowl 50+ overs. This frames how Aotearoa's whole squad contributed to this win as minor roles stacked up...
Ish Sodhi had the smallest contribution, bowling 7 overs in the series. Sodhi's only wicket was Pant, who was cruising on 60 runs @ 102sr in the first innings of the third Test.
Henry started with 5w in Bangalore and took 3w in the second innings. Henry took a wicket in both innings of the third Test, to give him at least a wicket in his four innings bowled.
Southee scored 65 runs @ 89 in the first Test and took 1w in three of his four innings bowled.
Patel took 2+ wickets in four of his five innings.
Phillips took at least a wicket in all five of his innings bowled and scored 10+ runs in four of his five innings batted.
Latham scored 10+ runs in four of his six innings batted.
Ravindra scored 30+ runs in three of his six innings batted.
Conway scored 10+ runs in five of his six innings batted.
Mitchell scored 10+ runs in all six of his innings batted.
Young scored 10+ runs in all six of his innings batted.
Santner scored 37 runs and took 13w in his one Test.
Seven kiwis took 2+ catches: Mitchell (8), Young (4), Patel (3), Phillips (3), Southee (2), Latham (2), Ravindra (2).
13 lads from Aotearoa flew around the field, throwing their bodies around just to save a run or two.
Here are Blackcaps Test career stats...
Tom Latham: 38.78avg/47.2sr
Devon Conway: 39.45avg/51.8sr
Will Young: 30.03avg/44sr
Rachin Ravindra: 42.18avg/56sr | 44.6avg/3rpo
Daryl Mitchell: 44.97avg/53.5sr
Tom Blundell: 33.77avg/51sr
Glenn Phillips: 33.94avg/72.7sr | 27.36avg/3.4rpo
Mitchell Santner: 24.12avg/44.5sr | 36.32avg/2.7rpo
Tim Southee: 15.71avg/82.5sr | 29.88avg/2.9rpo
Ish Sodhi: 20.77avg/47sr | 43.1avg/3.7rpo
Mat Henry: 20.6avg/80.2sr | 30.78avg/3.1rpo
Ajaz Patel: 9.94avg/34.6sr | 29.25avg/3.2rpo
Will O'Rourke: 2.33avg/9.5sr | 19.42avg/3.1rpo
Not only did the whole playing group add to this Test series sweep, Blackcaps adapted to a bunch of different situations with relative ease. Understandably, India weren't keen on another seaming deck after they fell for 46 all out in the first Test. India had no control of the stinking heat in Pune and Mumbai, however they reacted to the first Test by offering pitches that should have favoured the hosts.
Pune was hotter, more spinny and less predictable for batters. Mumbai was even hotter, even more spinny and even less predictable for batters. This is similar to Blackcaps losing to Bangladesh at Bay Oval where conditions are the most slow/spinny in Aotearoa and then going all in on seam at Hagley Oval (where Blackcaps won).
The equivalent would be Blackcaps hosting a touring team from Asia with the first Test being played at Bay Oval or Seddon Park, followed by Tests at Hagley Oval and University Oval. That's the flipside of what happened in India as touring Asian teams would probably struggle with the seam/swing/chilly conditions moving south.
Somehow this Blackcaps team thrived in the extreme conditions that followed the first Test. This sweep featured a return to Aotearoa's cricketing identity and while it's evident in Blackcaps tactics, planning and being the better fielding team, it quickly became clear that New Zealand was the fitter of the two teams.
Catches were dropped. There were fielding mishaps. Lapses of concentration were present with bat and ball. That's the challenge of playing Test cricket in such conditions, but the kiwis executed their skills for longer. Aotearoa showed the required patience and focus to absorb patches where India was on top. That's the stuff we have come to love about Blackcaps cricket and it's not just the result we can be proud of, it is the way this team played that resonates the most with kiwi cricket fans.
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