While New Zealand started the series after being gunned down
by the mighty Australians, India came to this series with their spirits high.
Since the defeat against England away from home, Virat Kohli's landed on New
Zealand soil with the aura of invincibility – strings of series victories came
down under, in the Caribbean and on home soil. Undoubtedly, the number one Test
side in the world was the favourites to conquer New Zealand. But in the end,
it was another whitewash for the Indian team since the 4-0 drubbing against
Australia in 2011-12 and under Virat’s captaincy, this has happened for the
first time.
After the heavy defeat at Basin Reserve, Christchurch
offered nothing new for the Indians. Their batting display remained dismal and
on a greenish deck, their lack of ability to resist was surprising.
Any of the
batsmen could step up and fight back like Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman when
Sachin Tendulkar fell down quickly.
As soon as Kohli was tamed – India melted like the 90s
whenever they lost Tendulkar!
The average runs per wicket of Indian batters had been 18.5
in this series. India’s highest score in 4 innings had been 242. Kohli’s
batting average had been 9.50 throughout this series. The highest score
by an Indian in this series was 58 scored by Mayank Agarwal.
New Zealand's eighth to tenth-wicket partnerships in this
series had been 34.61.
According to ESPNcricinfo, “The six partnerships for their
last three wickets yielded 205 runs from two innings, with two fifty-plus
stands.
On both occasions - of their first innings of the Tests, the lower order produced
invaluable runs. In the second Test, the Kyle Jamieson-Neil Wagner stand of 51
for the eighth wicket kept the first-innings deficit to just seven runs. In the
first Test, Jamieson and Colin de Grandhomme added 71 runs for the eighth
wicket and then Jamieson and Trent Boult put on 38 runs for the final wicket to
take the lead to 183. In contrast, India's tail-enders scored just 124 in four
innings at an average of 10.33”.
The last time India's bowlers conceded a higher average to
the opposition's last three wickets in a series was in the 2014-15 period in
the successive series in England (average 42.92) and Australia (43.50).
You don’t expect the number 1 Test side to be such, do you?
The number one Test team should be the conqueror of the world
like Clive Lloyd’s West Indies and Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting’s Australia.
What we just see these days are nothing but home-track
bullies.
The state of New Zealand would be similar when they tour India – rank-turners would devour them in no time.
But cricket really needs the flavour of aura of invincibility.
Those dominating sides of West Indies and Australia brought a certain charm to
the game – the charm of witnessing each and every bit of greatness, which
comes once in a generation. Cricket needs Lloyd, Richards, Ponting, Marshall,
Warne, Waugh, Greenidge, Gilchrist, McGrath, Holding and co to make this
generation realize the warriors who possessed the qualities of Alexander
the Great!
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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