India’s dominance at home has come to an end; the fortress has been breached as they lost their first Test series on home soil since 2012. Once again, the team succumbed to a familiar spin-induced collapse, bowled out for 245 while chasing a target of 359. Mitchell Santner proved to be the key disruptor, taking six wickets and concluding the match with impressive figures of 13 for 157, effectively ending India’s dominant 18-series unbeaten streak at home.
Pursuing a steep target on a slow-turning pitch in the fourth innings was tough, but as long as Yashasvi Jaiswal was at the crease, India seemed to have a fighting chance. Jaiswal played a spirited knock of 77, igniting hopes briefly, but none of the other batters could have a decisive impact.
Earlier in the day, India’s bowlers made quick work of New Zealand’s lower order, taking the last five wickets within the first hour of the morning session. As India began their innings, Jaiswal set the tone with an aggressive start, smashing a six and a four within the first three deliveries. Although Rohit Sharma fell victim to Santner early on, Jaiswal remained undeterred, taking calculated risks and building an important partnership with Shubman Gill. However, after lunch, the wickets began to fall rapidly, disrupting India’s momentum and paving the way for a historic victory for New Zealand.
Wickets fell in quick succession, with the dismissals of Virat Kohli and Washington Sundar effectively sealing India’s fate.
Gill fell early in the session, edging a delivery that turned into the hands of slip. Soon after, Jaiswal also edged one, causing the run rate to plummet. Kohli and Sundar adopted a defensive approach, allowing the bowlers to control the game’s tempo for the first time. Kohli was dismissed LBW by an arm ball, and Rishabh Pant was run out earlier on a duck due to a mix-up with Kohli. With three wickets down, India desperately needed Pant’s contributions, but his dismissal only compounded their woes.
Sundar was promoted in the batting order, and he and Sarfaraz Khan needed to build a partnership to rescue the innings. Unfortunately, Sarfaraz could not replicate his earlier heroics from the last game and was bowled by a delivery that spun past his bat. Sundar looked solid initially but was eventually caught by Will Young after an unfortunate jam onto his pads. Once Ravichandran Ashwin was dismissed after tea, it became inevitable that New Zealand would clean up the lower order. Although Ravindra Jadeja fought hard, his efforts fell short.
To his credit, Santner once again bowled extremely well to bag another five-wicket haul. Though the pitch was slow-turning with variable bounce, Jaiswal showed that batting on it was not impossible. There was a lack of application from all the batters, leading to a heap of wickets falling in the post-lunch session.
Brief scores: New Zealand 259 all out (Devon Conway 76, Rachin Ravindra 65; Washington Sundar 7-59) & 255 all out (Tom Latham 86, Glenn Phillips 48*; Washington Sundar 4/56) vs India 156 all out (Ravindra Jadeja 38, Yashasvi Jaiswal 30; Mitchell Santner 7/53) & 245 all out (Yashasvi Jaiswal 77, Ravindra Jadeja 42; Mitchell Santner 6/104). New Zealand won by 113 runs.