Ajaz Patel bettered his record on return to his ‘home’ ground at Wankhede with a match haul of 11 for 145, including a match-winning six-for in the second innings to help New Zealand beat India by 25 runs in the third Test, and register a historic 3-0 clean sweep. This is the first time India have been whitewashed in a Test series at home since South Africa’s 2-0 win in 1999-2000 and their first-ever whitewash in a series of three or more Tests at home.
The result will further complicate India’s prospects in the World Test Championships, as a tougher five-Test challenge awaits them DownUnder, later this month.
From an Indian perspective, batting has let the team down throughout the series, and it was no different on a crumbling Wankhede surface on day three of the final Test.
With the hosts desperately looking for a win to avoid a whitewash, none of the Indian batters barring Rishabh Pant posed any real challenge for New Zealand as the tourists made early inroads after setting a target of 147.
Pant’s 64 off 57 raised hopes of a turnaround as he took India from a precarious 29/5 to 106/6 but once he was dismissed post lunch, the Kiwis knew they were on the cusp of scripting history.
“There were a lot of mistakes we did. The first two Tests we did not put enough runs in the first innings. This game we got the 30 runs [28] lead and the target was chaseable. We failed as a unit,” admitted skipper Rohit Sharma in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Resuming the day at 171/9, the visitors lost Patel after the addition of three more runs to their overnight total, leaving the hosts with an achievable target of 147 with eight sessions of play left in the match.
But Patel, who started his cricketing career in the Maidans of Mumbai, and already has a 10-wicket haul at the Wankhede, redeemed himself on his return to his place of birth with another 10-for, to make up for a rather ordinary series by his standards.
With that feat, Patel became the most successful visiting bowler at a single Indian ground. During India’s chase, he got great help from the part-time off-spinner Glenn Phillips, who contributed with three wickets, to defend the modest target.
India’s hunt for a face-saving victory began on a forgettable note with Matt Henry, the only pacer used for mere three overs in the second innings, getting rid of Rohit (11) early on, before Patel weaved his magic around the likes of Shubman Gill (1), Virat Kohli (1), Sarfaraz Khan (1), Ravindra Jadeja (6), and Phillips joining the party to trap the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal (5), that reduced the hosts to 92/6 at lunch.
With Pant still in the middle, India had their slender hopes pinned on the left-hander, who had all the momentum with India taking six singles and two boundaries in the first two overs after lunch, but New Zealand managed to get a decision overturned in what appeared a desperate review. A contentious DRS call from the third umpire Paul Reiffel after the southpaw was given not-out on a bat-pad catch by the on-field umpire, then triggered the turnaround again for the BlackCaps.
Tom Blundell’s superb catch off Ravichandran Ashwin glove on the reverse-sweep dashed India’s hopes further before Phillips once again struck when he bowled Akash Deep through the gate. Patel, fittingly, ended it all as Washington Sundar tried to slog him with not many options left, to help New Zealand do the unthinkable.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 235 (Daryl Mitchell 82, Will Young 71; Ravindra Jadeja 5-65, Washington Sundar 4-81) and 174 (Will Young 51; Ravindra Jadeja 5-55, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-63) beat India 263 (Shubman Gill 90, Rishabh Pant 60; Ajaz Patel 5-103) and 121 (Rishabh Pant 64; Ajaz Patel 6-57) by 25 runs.