26th October, 3:57 Pm, Over No 60.2 a slow left arm spin bowler from New Zealand bowled a tossed up delivery to our prime allrounder Ravindra Jadeja who is in the batting crease he dances down the track to hit that ball out of the park but the ball deposited into the hands of Tim Southee in the long on region, Pin drop silence in the stadium as New Zealand fielders were celebrating in the joy. You can ask why are you exaggerating a wicket this much ? The answer is why am exaggerating means this is not a celebration of "A WICKET" This moment will be etched in the history of New Zealand cricket with years to come as they win their first ever series in Indian soil since they started touring us from 1955. Also most importantly they ended the streak of Indian test team of not losing a home series since 2012.
If I want to describe this loss in cricketing terms, I can take a leaf out of famous commentator IAN SMITH words as ;
" NEW ZEALAND HAVE WON THEIR FIRST TEST SERIES IN INDIA; ABSOLUTE ECSTACY FOR NEW ZEALAND, AGONY.. AGONY .. FOR INDIA "
Now let's see what gone wrong for us right for them in my point of view as we dive into our new segment,
REVIEW OF THE MATCH:
The second test between India versus New Zealand at Pune will go down one of the darkest test matches of Indian test cricket history. It's mainly because Indians have been bundled out by a spinner who is considered as 3rd spinner by their own team in this format as our batsman's can't able to play spin where every expert around the world gone left, right and center by saying " Indians are good players of spin but that is Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman generation and not these players of this generation where they doesn't know how to play spin " Come lets see how this match panned out with the course of this three days. Firstly after we lost the first test in Bengaluru we shouldn't have gone for spinning track rather than sticking it to the bouncy, seam track which we played for past 3 matches but we broke the wicket and turned into a slow turner. Secondly even after seeing a slow track we selected our bowling unit as 3spinners + 2 fast bowlers pattern which become totally irrelevant as game goes because actually we played 10 players as Akash deep is just played as a fielder rather than a bowler if it's a slow wicket we should have added Axar Patel in the team instead of Akash Deep as he would have given a batting option at 10 and a steady bowler who would have contributed with the ball as well. Third thing is a thing which is uncontrollable which didn't gone by our way and that is TOSS as we lost the toss and were put into bowling by the Kiwis in that Pune wicket as Pune stats clearly showed that the team which is batting first had won both the test matches convincingly also shows that the 4th innings chase is tough in that track.
As we came to bowl first I personally felt we were too defensive in the first session as we kept the spread out field which is not acceptable in the 1st session of play as it paved the way for kiwis openers to score easy singles and batted without any pressure. But soon after the lunch and Sundar's Spell (GAVE A DETAILED BLOG ON SUNDAR'S 7 WICKET HAUL PLEASE GO AND READ AND PUT YOUR VALUBLE COMMENTS) we are back to our normal attacking field which created a pressure back on kiwis which resulted in bundling out them for 259 on Day 1 itself. Now we are going to see where we really lost the test match, it's our batting why means with just 259 runs behind India should batted till Day 3 morning and should enforced an innings victory as Pune wicket is not a rank turner where batting is not as tough as our batsman showed because on Day 2 we were bundled out for 156 in post lunch session as our batters were expecting turn but most of the wickets were falling for straight balls without having a turn. I personally felt that turning track played in the minds of our batters as they finished playing the ball in their mind before playing it in reality. As this poor batting gave the huge lead of 103 runs to kiwis as they were so ahead in the game. Fun Fact is this was the Santner's first 5 Wicket Haul in Test Format and also his first instance of getting passed 3wicket mark in an innings of the test match. Now coming into 3rd innings ; I personally felt that there is a down in body language of our players as we again had a spread field and allowing them to sweep again and again. Also we gave easy singles that kept the scoreboard ticking which increased the lead of the kiwis also their confidence. I thought that as we got out cheaply we can also get them to low score around 150 run mark with target ranging from 250-260 chasing but it seems no possible as they were scoring runs very easily as our spinners except Washington other two can't able to make any inroads into the batters of New Zealand. At the end of day 2 they were comfortably had 300 runs lead which seemed impossible. Finally Day 3 arrived and we had arrived with some positivity to the center as I saw some fresh energy around the group as we bowled them out for 256 by picking all the remaining 5 wickets for 58 runs where they gave us the target of 359, which is a very big mountain to climb but had a small ray of hope that we can pull of a record chase. Now we came to bat in our second innings It was a blistering start from Jaiswal as he smoked Southee for a six in second ball of the first over towards mid wicket region after that shot we saw a JAIS-BALL shown where he dominates every bowler on his way even though Sharma departed for a nothing short to Santner. Jaiswal and Gill stitched a beautiful partnership and puts India in a commanding position of 81/1 during day3 lunch. After seeing Jaiswal innings every Indians thought and brushed their memories to the famous 2008 Chepauk test of chasing 387 in 4th innings versus England but post lunch session it was a mere disappointment as Indian batting order collapsed like a pack of cards from 81/1 to 178/7 losing 6 wickets for 97 runs which almost sealed the series win for New Zealand and broke the hopes of Indians and after tea it was mere formalities as they bowled out us for 245 and broke our fortress which was built since 2013. Santa's 13 wicket in the match made sure that he picks the MAN OF THE MATCH too in this historical test. With this win TOM LATHAM became the first NEW ZEALAND test captain to win series in India which is a immediate effect of appointing him as test captain couple weeks ago. Finally according to me poor team selection according to condition , lack of winning mentality or mindset and lack of playing spin , Not creating pressure through field settings and poor strategy with too defensive mindset costs us this game as well as the series.
following the review we heading toward our last segment called ;
WHAT'S NEXT :
YES ! The series loss was a heartbreak for a hardcore Indian fan like me even through out the country as I saw them dominate every home series for past 12 years since (my 4th std) 2012. But we have to accept the fact yes that the streak has ended but its been beautiful since its lasted and yeah streaks are meant to be broken and it should happen one day and it happened now to us as no team cannot win or lose all the times, For me more than the series loss the application of our batters in this match against the spinners hurts me a lot. So moving forward as I am the Rohit Sharma I would keep this hurt in my heart like Shastri says ; "WEAR IT LIKE A BADGE "(WHEN WE GOT ALL OUT FOR 36) and should see what is required to play WTC finals as first two WTC finals we reached with ease but this time it takes a lot of grinding to reach LORDS.
So in my view I'll be saying the groundmen to prepare a true bouncy traditional Wankhede wicket which eventually cracks slightly opens out on day 4 and 5 which helps spinners. This red soil in Mumbai supports bounce and I want them to prepare true surface to bat on and have 3 Seamers and 2 Spinners as we take this match as a rehearsal for BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY IN AUSTRALIA which will be the virtual semifinal as whoever wins the series will be through to the finals in London, So in Mumbai Red soil, Bouncy wicket will be suitable for batting. So win the toss choose to bat first score some mountain scores gain confidence as batters and bowlers too enjoy bowling in that track which eventually make our players grow in confidence as BGT at stake.
WTC QUALIFICATION :
* India should win 4 out of their next 6 test matches (1 vs New Zealand and 5 vs Australia)
* Australia should win 4 out of their 7 test matches (5 vs India and 2 vs Sri Lanka in SL)
* South Africa should win 4 out of their 5 test matches (1 vs Bangladesh ; 2 each vs Pakistan and Sri Lanka in SA)
* Sri Lanka should win 3 out of their 4 test matches (2 vs Australis ; 2 vs South Africa)
* New Zealand should win 4 out of their 4 test matches (1 vs India ; 3 vs England in NZ)
With this scenario we come to a conclusion is INDIA vs AUSTRALIA series is semi finals -1 as whoever wins the series is through and SRIL LANKA VS SOUTH AFRICA series is semi finals -2 as whoever wins the series is through to the finals as well. NEW ZEALAND need to depend on others result as well. Interesting times as a test cricket fans.
CONCLUSION :
As we are unstoppable and High-Fly at home test it was completely humbled by Flightless KIWIS and showed that basic cricket and strong mindset is needed to conquer anyone, anywhere at anytime. As an Indian fan its a tough pill to swallow but with heavy heart and taking no credits I congratulate NEW ZEALAND for winning the series for the first time in 69 years and end of the day cricket showed us why it is a GREAT LEVELLER AND GAME IS ABOVE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.
PLEASE DO READ AND COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENT BOX THANKYOU
- JEEVA PRAKASH S
INSTA ID: JEEVA_VIRAT_18
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