India thrash Kiwis to take No.1 spot in Test
India demolish Kiwis on fourth morning, claim series
Mumbai, Dec. 6: Indian skipper Virat Kohli hailed his “clinical” side after they hammered New Zealand by 372 runs to win the second Test on Monday and clinch the series 1-0. Spinner R. Ashwin claimed a match tally of eight wickets — and 300th scalp on home soil — as India usurped the Black
Caps as the world’s topranked Test side.
New Zealand, who started day four on 140-5 in their chase of an improbable 540, were all out for 167 before lunch in Mumbai. It was tough on New Zealand's Mumbai-born spinner Ajaz Patel, who had made history with 10 wickets in the first innings. New Zealand, who doggedly hung on for a draw in the opening match of the two-Test series, were undone by their batting after Ajaz’s heroics. They collapsed to 62 all out in their first innings and were never in the chase against India’s spin force. — Agencies
Mumbai, Dec. 6: India carried out a decimation of New Zealand, winning the second Test by a recordbreaking 372-run margin to clinch the two-Test series 1-0 with comebackman Jayant Yadav cleaning up the visiting team’s lower half on the fourth morning here on Monday.
At exactly 10.13 am, 43 minutes to the start of the day, Ravichandran Ashwin (4/34) benefitted from a reflex stumping by Wriddhiman Saha and also completed his 300th wicket on Indian soil to finish the proceedings in a jiffy as New Zealand were all out for 167 in 56.3 overs.
The margin of victory is India’s highest ever on home soil.
For a team that had fought tooth and nail in
Kanpur, the extra bounce and turn did pose familiar problems for the Kiwis in a match they will try to remember for Ajaz Patel’s 10-wicket heroics.
“I think it was good to finish the series as winners, came close in Kanpur, not able to get that last wicket, had to work hard here. This result seems one-sided, but right through the series, we were made to work hard,” India coach Rahul Dravid said after the demolition act.
“There have been phases where we were behind and had to fight back, credit to the team. Great to see the boys stepping up and taking their opportunities,” he added.
Funnily, Patel bowled 73.5 overs across two
innings for New Zealand and his team, in total, batted 84.4 overs which would signify capitulation.
Apart from this, there was nothing much to write home about in an
insipid performance from a usually gutsy side.
Starting the day at 140 for five, the victory target of 540 was simply out of reach for the Black Caps but Jayant, who had not looked in good rhythm on the third evening, suddenly found his mojo with a career-best spell of 14-4-494 having last played a Test match in 2017.
“In the morning, the moisture in the wicket helped. You could see the difference between last evening and this morning, it was getting much more bite,” Yadav said explaining his performance.
“It was just important to get the ball in the right areas,” he added.
The win in which India ticked almost all the boxes save their middle-order woes will give skipper Virat Kohli lot of confidence going into the away series against South Africa starting in three weeks’ time.