On Saturday, October 26, the Indian cricket team suffered their first Test series loss at home in 12 years after New Zealand got the better of them in the second Test by 113 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune. With this big win, the Black Caps took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series, which is also their first Test series win against India in India in the 147-year history of the format.
In pursuit of the massive target of 359 runs, India never really seemed like getting close to it after early wickets fell. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a quick-fire fifty, while Ravindra Jadeja scored a measured 42 off 84, but it was far from enough for the Indian cricket team as they were bundled out for 245 runs in 60.2 overs, to suffer back-to-back Test defeats at home against the same opposition in years.
In this article, SportsTiger gives ratings to Indian players after their loss against New Zealand in the second Test.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan – 3
The captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were dismissed cheaply in the first innings, while in the run chase, they couldn’t go big for India either, leaving too much for the rest of the batters in the middle and lower order to score in the Pune Test. Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan were involved in a wonderful partnership in the Bengaluru Test, to resurrect the innings, but in the second Test, these two batters weren’t able to put a substantial score on the board against New Zealand.
Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep – 4
The Indian team management picked Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep as their two fast bowlers for the Pune Test match, but these two bowlers didn’t pick up any wickets between them after delivering just 20 overs in the game. The limited number of overs given by captain Rohit Sharma to his two pacers were due to the pitch at the MCA Stadium in Pune providing a lot of assistance to the spin bowlers.
Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin – 5
Amidst the difficult batting conditions against the spinners, with Mitchell Santner of New Zealand running rampant with the ball, Shubman Gill looked quite confident with the bat in both the innings in the Pune Test, but he wasn’t able to kick on. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin weren’t quite at their best with the ball despite the pitch providing quite a lot of assistance to them, but still, they picked up a decent bag of wickets, apart from scoring some lower order runs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal – 7
Yashasvi Jaiswal was easily the best batter from India in the Pune Test against New Zealand, scoring a measured 30 in the first innings before firing on all cylinders in pursuit of the 359-run target. In the second innings, the left-handed batter stormed to 77 off 65 with nine fours and three maximums, but his dismissal off the bowling of Mitchell Santner put India in deep strife, and they weren’t able to recover from it.
Washington Sundar – 8.5
Washington Sundar made a triumphant return to the Indian Test team after more than three years, picking up his first 10-wicket match haul in his fifth Test appearance. In the first innings of the Pune Test against New Zealand, Washington Sundar took a seven-wicket haul before backing it up with four wickets in the second innings, to play a key role in bundling out the opposition for scores under 260 runs both times.