After 24 long years, the Blackcaps, also known as New Zealand (NZ), made history on Sunday, October 3, becoming the first team to completely whitewash Team India’s (IND) in their backyard. In the third and final Test of the series in Mumbai, the hosts were notably unable to chase down a goal of 147 runs in their fourth innings.
The Kiwis won the game and the series with a stunning 3-0 victory. As the visitors won the Test series 3-0 on Sunday, New Zealand made history by handing India their first home defeat in 24 years. The game started off being quite tight. The host team continued to chase the mark despite the heroic batting efforts of India’s explosive wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who scored 64 off 57 balls.
Only Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, excluding Pant, put up a fight against the bowlers from New Zealand. As the other members of the team continued their difficult batting phase. Consequently, the dark horses won the last Test of the series by a margin of 25 runs over India.
Ajaz Patel, who made life difficult for the batters in the first innings, was the hero at his “favourite” field, Wankhede, to speak of other noteworthy guest performances. The Indian batsmen were totally bewildered by the web he created around them. Interestingly, it appears that the Rohit Sharma-led team practiced against left-arm spinners in an effort to improve their batting and tackling skills. But little changed as Patel destroyed the Indian batting order for a pitiful 121 runs shortly after lunch on Day 3 with a six-wicket (6/57) haul.
How recently has an opposition whitewashed India in their own home?
The intriguing issue that now emerges is: How recently has Team India experienced the fury of being whitewashed in their own home by an enemy team? In any case, South Africa was the last country to oppose script. The Proteas famously defeated India in 2000 under the great guidance of the late Hansie Cronje.
In that series, the Cronje-led team defeated the Indian team by 4 wickets in the opening Test match at Wankhede. They subsequently advanced to Bangalore, where they overwhelmingly defeated the hosts in the last Test of the two-match Test series by a margin of an innings and 71 runs.
New Zealand’s series victory is the first in India’s 90-year Test history.
The achievement made by the Tom Latham-led team, however, is even more astounding considering that it was a series spanning more than two games. To their credit, Team India has never lost a three-game series at home by a score of 3-0 in the past 90 years. Furthermore, 2012 was the only other series loss India suffered. Because of the extra effort put out by England, sometimes known as the Three Lions, the hosts suffered a series loss.
However, in a four-match Test series, India was able to win one of these three games. As a result, in this case, the guests were unable to finish a sequence of whitewash. Following the clean sweep of New Zealand, the World Test Championship (WTC 2023–25) campaign has become even more difficult and complex. Notably, India is now scheduled to travel to Australia for a five-match Test series.
Also Read: How difficult is it for India to qualify for WTC 2023-25 final?
The odds of making it to the summit match, however, have gotten worse after losing three straight home games. India’s only chance to guarantee their spot in the WTC final is to defeat Australia in their own backyard in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25.
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