India vs New Zealand Test Series - What Went Wrong for Team India?
The 3-match Test series between India and New Zealand has taken a brutal turn for the hosts. Team India has lost a series at home after 12 years and New Zealand winning the 2nd fixture at Pune will go down the history books.
Team India was enjoying the high after winning the T20 World Cup and a Test series win over Bangladesh by 2-0. However, they were not aware of the upcoming challenge the team had to face against the Kiwis.
The table toppers in the World Test Championship point table have witnessed a slight dip in the red-ball format and things look difficult for the hosts now. The 3rd Test fixture will be a crucial one to maintain their dominance in the WTC.
Losing a Test series at home is not a good sign for the hosts. Even after having every advantage, Rohit Sharma and company came out short and lost the 2nd fixture in Pune.
India vs New Zealand 3rd Test is scheduled to begin on 4th November and the betting apps in India have uploaded the odds for the match.
The critics have highlighted some major issues in the team that led to the series loss and in this article, we have compiled the top reasons why Team India came out short at home.
Wrong Assessment of the Home Conditions
The biggest mistake that skipper Rohit Sharma made was to make the decision to bat first in the first Test. The first day was washed out due to rain and the fixture started on day 2. Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts were completely decimated at a score of 46 runs and Kiwis gained a major advantage in the match and later in the series. During the press conference, the Indian skipper accepted his mistake and also highlighted the team selection. The early departure of the Indian batting unit set the tone in favour of New Zealand for the rest of the match.
Indian Batters vs New Zealand Pacers with New Ball
During the first inning of the first Test, it was clearly visible that Indian batters had failed to play the New Zealand pace unit at Bengaluru. They were seen making poor short selections and once under pressure, the whole batting unit fell like a house of cards. India did relatively well in the 2nd inning but it was too late for the team to score a win. In Pune, a similar situation was visible as Tim Southee dominated the Indian batters and set the tone for the match by scalping Rohit Sharma in the early hours. Mitchell Santner took the opportunity with both hands and dismantled the Indian batters one by one.
Too Much Dependency on Spin Duo
During the series against Bangladesh, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja came out on top with their spin attack. The same was expected against New Zealand but things didn't go as per the plan. New Zealand came out well-prepared to play India’s spin attack and at the same time, when India’s game plan went off the track, the whole team failed miserably in both Tests. In fact, all three spin bowlers - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav turned out to be expensive and that shows the expertise of Kiwi batters to play against India’s spin talent.
The Failure of Experienced Players
One of the biggest reasons why Team India failed to even come closer to winning a single game is because of the consistent failure of experienced players. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed to score runs and lead the team from the front. Their failure put undue pressure on young talents like Sarfaraz Khan and Yashaswi Jaiswal. Another name that became the reason for the team's failure is KL Rahul. The stylish batsman is going through a rough patch and he failed to impress against both Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Check out the match prediction for India vs New Zealand 3rd Test.
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