After New Zealand won the three-match series 2-0 in Pune, India’s 12-year home Test series winning streak has been ended. at the second Test of the three-match series at Pune, Mitchell Santner’s scorching spell helped New Zealand upset India by 113 runs. India lost their captain Rohit Sharma for eight runs when chasing 359, but they rallied thanks to the pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. Santner continued to smash at regular intervals, though, as India was bowled out for 245 and lost by 113 runs. Ajaz Patel took two wickets for New Zealand, while Mitchell Santner took seven and six. Ravindra Jadeja scored 42 and Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 77 for India.
Even though India still leads the World Test Championship (WTC) with 98 points, the series loss hurts their standing there as well. But with their current win % of 62.82, Australia has a slim chance to catch up. This decline in India’s domestic performance will undoubtedly intensify debates over their lineup’s vulnerability to left-arm spin and their general readiness for high-caliber spin attacks.
During the post-match press conference, Indian captain Rohit Sharma was asked if the team’s rare back-to-back home losses had raised any concerns about a WTC final berth. Rohit maintained that the Indian squad was more disappointed by the series defeat than the WTC, despite the fact that there are still six Test matches left in the current cycle, five of which will be against Australia in Australia.
“It’s too early to think about WTC. I’m just hurting because we lost the game, that is what I will say. I can’t think about what lies ahead and let it affect our chances,” said Rohit.
“We didn’t play well enough in these two games, and it’s hurting. There are things that we need to do as a unit, not just as batters but also as bowlers. It’s a collective failure, not because of a particular thing.
“When you win a Test, everyone deserves credit. when you lose, everyone takes the blame.”
