New Zealand scripted history in Mumbai on Sunday as the Tom Latham-led side became the first-ever team to whitewash India 3-0 in a Test series on Indian soil. Coming into the third and final Test with a 2-0 lead, New Zealand rode on Ajaz Patel's match-haul of 11/160 to beat India by 25 runs inside three days.
Having dismissed New Zealand for 174 at the beginning of the first session on day three courtesy Ravindra Jadeja's five-wicket haul, India needed 147 runs to pick up a consolation win here.
However, the home team suffered yet another inexplicable batting collapse as the Kiwi spinners, led by Ajaz Patel, ran through the Indian line-up. Patel, who took a five-for in the first innings, added six more to take his match haul to 11 wickets.
Rishabh Pant (64) led a monumental fightback but the wicketkeeper batter was caught behind shortly after lunch to deflate all hopes of an Indian victory.
Earlier, New Zealand ended India’s 12-year domination on home soil by winning the first two Test matches in Bengaluru and Pune. It is also their first-ever series victory in India since they started touring the country in 1955-56 under Harry Cave.
India captain Rohit Sharma admitted he wasn’t at his best both as a captain and also with the bat. “I wasn't at my best with both bat and as a captain, that's something that'll rankle me. But, we didn't perform well collectively and that's the reason for these losses,” Sharma said after the game.
“Losing a Test is never easy, it's something that's not easily digestible. Again, we didn't play our best cricket, we know and we have to accept. They (New Zealand) did so much better than us. We made a lot of mistakes and we'll have to accept it,” he added.
With PTI inputs
