New Zealand made history, clean sweep Test series 3-0
In the history of Test cricket, New Zealand did what no other team had been able to do on Indian soil. In the third Test match played at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, New Zealand defeated the host team India by 25 runs and won the three-match Test series 3-0. Till now no team had been able to clean sweep Team India in a series of three or more Test matches in India, but the team captained by Tom Latham did it.
New Zealand had already won the series by winning both the Test matches played in Bengaluru and Pune. In the third match, India tried to save its honour, but Team India could not do this and collapsed at 121 runs. India needed 147 runs to win the third Test, which the team could not make even though it had almost three days of time. The Indian team was out in the second session on the third day, Sunday, and lost the series along with the match.
The Indian batsmen disappointed in this entire series, the most disappointment came from the team’s captain Rohit Sharma and veteran batsman Virat Kohli. When Rohit came out to chase the target of runs, he was in an aggressive mood due to which he also got out. On the last ball of the third over, Rohit tried to play a big shot on Matt Henry but was caught by Glenn Phillips. Then Ajaz Patel’s game started. He trapped Shubman Gill in his spin and bowled him out. Virat also became a victim of Ajaz.
Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the top-2 batsmen who scored the most runs for India in this series, were at the crease. It seemed that this pair would save India, but Yashasvi was LBW on Phillips’ ball. Sarfaraz played a straight sweep shot on Ajaz’s full-toss into the hands of Rachin Ravindra. He could score only one run.
Pant fought lone battle
Pant then kept India’s hopes alive along with Washington Sundar. Pant scored a brilliant half-century and took India close to the target, but a decision by the third umpire disappointed Pant. Ajaz Patel’s delivery made contact with Pant and went into the fielder’s hand. New Zealand appealed which was rejected by the on-field umpire. The Kiwi team took a review in which the snicko meter showed movement and the third umpire declared Pant out. However, this led to a controversy as it was not clear whether the marks on the snicko meter were of the bat touching the pad or the ball touching the bat. With this, Pant’s innings of 64 runs came to an end. Pant faced 57 balls and hit nine fours and a six.
There were expectations from Ashwin and Sundar but Phillips showed Ashwin the way to the pavilion. Akashdeep was also bowled on the next ball and then India’s defeat was certain. Sundar was bowled by Ajaz Patel, giving New Zealand a historic win
Ajaz shone again
Left-arm spinner Ajaz bowled brilliantly for New Zealand in this match. He took six wickets in the second innings. He had taken five wickets in the first innings. He was successful in taking a total of 11 wickets in this match. This is the same ground where Ejaz took all 10 wickets in an innings in the Test against India in 2021.
