Watch cricket video highlights of New Zealand tour of India 2024. Third test between India and New Zealand. Venue of the match will be Wankhede.
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New Zealand overcame Rishabh Pant’s stunning talent to go on uncharted territory: a three-Test whitewash of India. Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips combined for nine wickets to defend 146, despite Pant’s 64 off 57, which lifted them from 29 for 5 to 106 for 6. Ajaz ended up with 11 wickets, making him the most successful visiting bowler at a single Indian stadium. Aside with poor batting, India had a disputed DRS ruling from third umpire Paul Reiffel.
Pant had all the momentum, with India scoring six singles and two boundaries in the first two overs after lunch, but New Zealand was able to have a judgment reversed in what seemed to be a frantic review. Pant had padded up to Ajaz after being beaten in the air, and was declared not-out on a bat-pad catch, with the third umpire first judging that the UltraEdge murmur was caused by the bat on the pad. However, a probable deflection after the sound signature led the third umpire to overturn the on-field call.
Take nothing away from Ajaz. Ajaz, who was born in Mumbai and represented New Zealand, had taken an all-10 on his last tour, and was having an unremarkable series when he entered the final Test. Even though he rediscovered his stride after lunch on day two, taking five wickets in the first innings, and despite getting three early wickets in the second innings, he was playing a different Test than Pant. At the time of Pant’s wicket, Ajaz had delivered 167 balls to the remainder of India for 112 runs and nine wickets, but 41 of them had gone for 75 runs.
Pant was in the midst of an aggressive effort that defied the perilous conditions, as requested by team management and promptly delivered to them. The difficulty with batting on such tracks is that bowlers have a large margin for mistake. Even if you bowl a rank long hop, you may employ in-out fields to guard the boundaries since the ball bounces off the pitch at different speeds. Pant’s talent resided in his ability to alter shots enough to beat deep fielders. Swivel almost to the stumps to strike squarer. A fall onto the knee to sweep finer.
Almost often sweeps himself off his feet to provide that extra amount of strength. All while maintaining an 84% control rate throughout lunchtime. When Pant wasn’t on strike, Ajaz was unplayable. He had been bowling flawless lengths since lunch on day two and continued throughout the second session. He bowled on a decent length, prompting forward defense from the hitters before they could reach the pitch of the ball. Shubman Gill left one alone without protecting the off-side line, leaving himself vulnerable to the pitch’s unpredictable nature.
The ball did not turn and knocked the off stump out. Virat Kohli was a sitting duck as he guarded and edged into Dary Mitchell’s enormous mitts at slip. Ravindra Jadeja, who had previously completed his third career 10-wicket match haul and combined 42 with Pant, eventually got one that turned too far and was caught at bat-pad. Only Sarfaraz Khan’s wicket was a gift from the gremlins in the brains. His two-ball innings were made up of two calculated sweeps to what would otherwise be boundary balls.
One was a single, the other a full toss into deep midwicket’s welcoming palms. Matt Henry and Phillips took the first shots. Rohit Sharma appeared to want to pull ahead of New Zealand while the roller’s influence was still fresh, as New Zealand refused to roll the pitch when their last wicket contributed three runs to their overnight lead of 143. Two boundaries followed, but the third was to a delivery that was not short enough, and Phillips collected the top-edged pull at midwicket.
Phillips, who has far exceeded expectations as the team’s second spinner, maintained his fine performance by not delivering any poor deliveries, and was rewarded by trapping Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw on the forward defensive. Pant, on the other hand, was playing a whole other game. His initial thought was to set a barrier, then run, and last defend. He began his account with a flat six over Ajaz’s head. As a result, Ajaz was compelled to bowl quicker and shorter to him, allowing India to score two bye boundaries.
His reverse-sweeping eliminated the short fine leg and helped him when he top-edged a sweep precisely there. After losing Jadeja, he hit the boundary twice in the last two overs before lunch, bringing his total to fifty and leaving India hoping for a miracle. After lunch, New Zealand sat back. There were six singles in the first over. Two fours in the second. Then followed the frantic review, which swung things around for New Zealand again. Tom Blundell got reason to rejoice with a wonderful catch off R Ashwin’s glove on the reverse sweep.
Phillips had an opportunity to appreciate all of his efforts when he bowled Akash Deep through the gate. Fittingly, Ajaz terminated it all as Washington Sundar attempted to slog him with little alternatives.
