India crash to 3-0 loss as Rishabh Pant’s valiant battle goes in vain

It all went downhill for Team India as they slumped down to a third straight defeat in the three-match Test series against New Zealand. This is the first time that a team inflicted a 3-0 whitewash upon India in the latter’s backyard in a three-match Test sequence. At the end of the second day, it felt that India were clearly the favourites to clinch the battle.

Starting the day at 171/9, Ravindra Jadeja skittled out New Zealand for a paltry three runs added to the total. Getting bundled out for 174, New Zealand set a target of 147 for India. Ravindra Jadeja finished with figures of 5/55 to spearhead the Indian charge.

Much to everyone’s shocker, India was off to an extremely rude awakening as they were reduced to 29/5. In no time they lost the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5), Rohit Sharma (11), Shubman Gill (1), Virat Kohli (1) and Sarfaraz Khan (1). Wobbling up front, India started fighting back through Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.

It was mainly Rishabh Pant who did the heavy lifting while Jadeja anchored the other end. The duo added 42 runs for the sixth wicket before Ajaz Patel broke the partnership and opened up the floodgates. Pant continued to be the solitary warrior for Team India while he had no support whatsoever from the other end.

India was bundled out for 121, losing the match by 25 runs. Ajaz Patel won the Player of the Match award for his figure of 6/57. Will Young bagged the Player of the Series award.

India will now turn their attention to the upcoming T20I series against South Africa.