Indian batters crumble as New Zealand seal historic series win with a 113-run win in Pune Test
What was supposed to be an outing of retribution turned into an infamous series defeat for Team India after 12 staggering years on home soil. New Zealand secured an unassailable lead of 2-0 to leave India stunned in their backyard.
Starting the day at 198/5, the visitors were no match for India's resurgent spinning department. Ravindra Jadeja struck the first blow of the day as he removed Tom Blundell for 41. The fall of Blundell triggered a collapse in the batting unit of the Kiwis and India were quick to rack up the heat. Jadeja struck thrice while Ashwin added one more to his tally as the visitors were bundled out for 255.
Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were the key architects of India's dominant bowling display in the second innings as the duo shared seven wickets between them to give India a head start. It was a two-edged emotion for India at the moment as they knew that they gave themselves enough time and an outside chance to chase down what could have been a decent number on the board. On the other hand, the devolving nature of the surface was a blazing admonition.
The Indian batters had a bit of a stutter early on with their captain, Rohit Sharma falling for a modest eight. Yashashvi Jaiswal (77) and Shubman Gill (23) did a decent job of revamping the innings, with the former particularly in belligerent form. However, once Gill and Jaiswal were removed, the Indian batters crumbled like a house of cards. Ravindra Jadeja fought a lonely battle with a valiant 42 but that wasn't enough for India to figure out a way against the unstoppable Kiwis, who registered a historic Test series win.
Brief scores:
New Zealand - 259 and 255
India - 156 and 245