Last Updated on 1 month by Charbel Coorey
It’s not often you see India fans so angry with their team’s performance in a home Test. When the team needed to produce a good batting display given their predicament in the series, they meekly surrendered to New Zealand’s spinners, rolled for 156 in just 45.3 overs.
India’s decline against spin was on show. Technique, footwork and shot selection are areas of the game they have prided themselves on over many years, and none of that was on the agenda at Pune.
In fact, India’s batting has been shaky even at home in recent years. It has often been the lower order rescuing them from precarious positions against the likes of Australia (2023), England (2024) and Bangladesh recently when they fell to 144/6 at Chennai.
Virat Kohli’s dismissal was a sign of things to come. It was an unacceptable shot for such a great and celebrated player. Perhaps his mind is muddled as he fights to get out of a rut that dates back to the start of 2021, where he averages just 35.4 in 50 innings.
However, others have plenty to answer to as well. Rishabh Pant was reckless. Shubman Gill was out to a straight ball. Sarfaraz Khan threw his wicket away. It was then left to the lower order to pull off something special, but they couldn’t, leaving India 103 adrift of New Zealand’s first innings score of 259.
“There is a perception in modern-day cricket that Indians are great batters of spin. They are not. Those days are gone. Now, they are the same as everyone else,” said Simon Doull on commentary.
That being said, the New Zealand spinners deserve credit. Mitchell Santner, who looked all at sea against Sri Lanka last month, bowled the best he ever has in Test cricket. He was consistent, constantly asked questions of the batsmen, and used the turning surface to his advantage.
India criticised heavily for their batting display against New Zealand at Pune
However, India fans were having none of it. No one could have predicted that Santner, who had never taken more than three wickets in an innings, would go on to take seven. Glenn Phillips also chipped in with two of his own in just six overs.
Here are some of the reactions – the kind you rarely see from a team so dominant at home. There was criticism of not only the batting, but the captaincy and choice to produce such a surface after getting bowled out for 46 in Bengaluru.
Now, India face a huge fight to avoid their first series defeat on Indian soil since losing to England way back in 2012.
