IND vs NZ 1st Test: Rating Team India players on scale of 10

On Sunday, October 20, New Zealand made history by winning their first Test match on Indian soil since 1988, getting the better of the hosts by eight wickets while chasing a target of 107 runs on day five. After bundling out the highly accomplished Indian batting lineup for 46 runs in their first innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, New Zealand took a massive first innings lead of 356 runs.

In their second innings, India were on 408/3 at one stage, looking to make a resounding comeback into the Test match after being down and out for the first two and a half days, but New Zealand bowlers picked up their last seven wickets quickly to bundle them out for 462 runs. At the start of day five, New Zealand survived the early storm from Jasprit Bumrah before chasing down the paltry target with ease.

In this article, SportsTiger gives ratings to Indian players after their loss against New Zealand in the first Test.

KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj – 4

kl rahul ravichandran ashwin mohammed siraj

KL Rahul looked all at sea against the seaming and swinging ball in both the innings, getting dismissed to Will O’Rourke behind the stumps for not many. Ravichandran Ashwin had a rare Test match in his career where he looked quite ineffective with the ball, conceding runs at nearly six per over in the first innings before Rohit Sharma brought him into the attack in the second innings when the Test match was essentially gone.

Mohammed Siraj wasn’t quite at his best with the new ball or old ball in the first Test against New Zealand as the opposition batters took toll on any wayward delivery he bowled to them, and he ended up with only one wicket in 25 overs across both the innings.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav  – 5.5

yashasvi jaiswal ravindra jadeja kuldeep yadav

Amidst the carnage at the other end, Yashasvi Jaiswal tried hard to keep his wicket intact as long as possible in the first innings before giving a decent start to the Indian batting effort in the second innings, when they were firmly behind the eight ball. Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav picked up three wickets each in the Test match for India in Bengaluru, but their economy rate across both the innings was far from ideal.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah – 6.5

rohit sharma virat kohli jasprit bumrah

Rohit Sharma was dismissed quite early in the first innings, but he scored a fluent fifty in the second innings, to give India a decent start while being down by 356 runs. After losing his wicket in the first innings on a brutal delivery from Will O’Rourke at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Virat Kohli started the second innings timidly before getting into his own, and scoring a fifty for the first-time in Tests in 2024.

Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of Indian bowlers in the first Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru, troubling the opposition batters in both the innings, and keeping the economy rate down amidst the free flowing stroke play at the other end.

Rishabh Pant – 8

rishabh pant

Rishabh Pant was the top scorer for India with his 20 off 49 in the first innings when the team registered their lowest Test total of 46 runs at home. In the second innings, the left-handed batter stitched together a 177-run stand alongside Sarfaraz Khan, to keep India in the contest, but his innings ended on a sour note with 99 runs to his name, which was also the seventh time he was dismissed in the 90s in Test cricket.

Sarfaraz Khan – 8.5

sarfaraz khan

After being dismissed without troubling the scorers in the first innings, due to an outrageous catch from Devon Conway at short mid-on region, Sarfaraz Khan was under pressure to deliver the goods in the absence of Shubman Gill from the Bengaluru Test match. The right-handed batter managed to get off the pair first and foremost before unleashing the array of his attacking strokes, predominantly towards square of the wicket, to end up getting to his maiden Test ton, and he was dismissed after scoring 150 off 195 with 18 fours and three maximums.

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