India completed a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand in the third Test at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore when they beat the visitors by a commanding 321 runs on the fourth day.
Incidentally, the 321-run victory was India’s second biggest in terms of runs in their Test cricket history; the best still remains the 337-run victory against South Africa at Delhi last December.
Victory at Indore was India’s 12th in their last 13 home Test matches from February 2013. During this period, they beat Australia 4-0, West Indies 2-0, South Africa 3-0 (1 drawn) and the Kiwis 3-0.
This was the fourth time India have managed to whitewash a side in a series of three of more Test matches. The first occasion came in 1993 when India beat Graham Gooch’s England 3-0. Then, a year later, India won 3-0 against Arjuna Ranatunga’s Sri Lanka. In 2013, they beat Michael Clarke’s Australia 4-0 – their best ever performance in any Test series.
The Indore victory was the tenth in 17 Tests under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. His success percentage of 58.82 is currently the best among any Indian captain who has led the side in more than three Tests.
This was India’s ninth series victory over New Zealand at home, out of 11 series played in India since 1955. The visitors are yet to win a series in India, although they did manage to draw twice – the series in 1969 and 2003.
NEW ZEALAND TEST SERIES IN INDIA
Period | Matches | India win | NZ win | Draw | Series won by | Indian captain | NZ captain |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nov 1955-Jan 1956 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | India | Ghulam Ahmed (1), Polly Umrigar (4) |
Harry Cave |
Feb-Mar 1965 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | India | Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi | John Reid |
Sep-Oct 1969 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Drawn | Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi | Graham Dowling |
Nov-Dec 1976 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | India | Bishan Singh Bedi | Glenn Turner |
Nov-Dec 1988 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | India | Dilip Vengsarkar | John Wright |
Oct-Nov 1995 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | India | Mohd Azharuddin | Lee Germon |
Oct-Nov 1999 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | India | Sachin Tendulkar | Stephen Fleming |
Oct 2003 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Draw | Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid |
Stephen Fleming |
Nov 2010 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | India | MS Dhoni | Daniel Vettori |
Aug-Sep 2012 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | India | MS Dhoni | Ross Taylor |
Sep-Oct 2016 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | India | Virat Kohli | Kane Williamson (2), Ross Taylor (1) |
MATCHES SUMMARY
Venues | Matches | India win | NZ win | Draw |
---|---|---|---|---|
In India | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 |
In New Zealand | 23 | 5 | 8 | 10 |
Total | 57 | 21 | 10 | 26 |
SERIES SUMMARY
Venues | Series | India win | NZ win | Draw |
---|---|---|---|---|
In India | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
In New Zealand | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
Total | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 |
This series saw 33 LBW decisions going in favour of the bowler, which incidentally is the most in a three-match series in the subcontinent. The Indian bowlers claimed 22 LBWs, while the Kiwi bowlers managed 11.
The previous record was 31 LBWs, when the West Indies toured Pakistan for a three-match Test series in 1986/87.
India, meanwhile, regained their number one spot on the ICC Test Rankings, which they had conceded to Pakistan in August. Since their 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka last year, India have won four successive Test series, all under the leadership of Kohli.
The side is now just one short of their best sequence of consecutive series wins, which is five from October 2008 to January 2010.
SUCCESSIVE TEST SERIES WINS FOR INDIA
Series | Period | Home | Away | Captain |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | October 2008 to January 2010 | 3 | 2 | MS Dhoni in 10 Tests (also Anil Kumble & Virender Sehwag in 2 Tests each) |
4 | January 1993 to February 1994 | 3 | 1 | Mohd Azharuddin in 10 Tests |
4* | August 2015 to date (October 2015) | 2 | 2 | Virat Kohli in 14 Tests |
3 | February 1971 to February 1973 | 1 | 2 | Ajit Wadekar in 13 Tests |
3 | November 2000 to March 2001 | 2 | 1 | Sourav Ganguly in 6 Tests |
3 | May 2007 to Dec 2007 | 1 | 2 | Rahul Dravid in 5 Tests & Anil Kumble in 3 Tests |
Wriddiman Saha (54* & 58*) in his home ground at Eden Gardens, Kolkata became only the fourth Indian wicket-keeper to make 50-plus scores in each innings of a match.
He emulated Dilawar Hussain (59 & 57, vs England at Kolkata in January 1934), Farokh Engineer (121 & 66, vs England at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in February 1973) and MS Dhoni, who has achieved this feat on four separate occasions: against Australia at Mohali (92 & 68*) in October 2008, then again in the same series at Nagpur in November 2008 (56 & 55), at Wellington in April 2009 (52 & 56*) and at Birmingham in August 2011 (77 & 74*).
Virat Kohli’s 211 at Indore made him the first Indian Test captain to register two double centuries. In July this year, he had made 200 against the West Indies at Antigua.
The other Indian captains to record Test double centuries are: Nawab of Pataudi Jr. (203* v Eng at Delhi, 1964), Sunil Gavaskar (205 v WI at Mumbai, 1978), Sachin Tendulkar (217 v NZ at Ahmedabad, 1999) and MS Dhoni (224 v Aus at Chennai, 2013).
Ravichandran Ashwin, at Kanpur, became the second quickest bowler in history to claim 200 Test wickets. He achieved it in his 37th Test match, just one short of Australian Clarrie Grimmett’s record, who reached 200 wicket in his 36th match back in February 1936 – 80 years ago.
The other bowlers who did so in less than 40 Tests are Australian Dennis Lillee (38th Test in February 1980), Pakistani Waqar Younis (also 38th Test in December 1995) and South African Dale Steyn (39th Test in June 2010).
Ashwin, after his 13-wicket haul at Indore, has taken his tally of wickets to 220 – the most by any bowler in the first 39 Tests of his career.
Waqar Younis (208), Dennis Lillee (206) and Dale Steyn (204) are next best behind Ashwin. However, it should be noted that Clarrie Grimmett, who appeared in only 37 Tests in his career from 1925 to 1936, managed to claim 216 wickets.
The series, not surprising, was dominated by the Indian batsmen and bowlers.
The tables below provide the details.
TOP RUN-SCORERS
Batsman | Team | Matches | Innings | NO | Runs | Average | HS | 100s | 50s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cheteshwar Pujara | IND | 3 | 6 | 1 | 373 | 74.60 | 101* | 1 | 3 |
Ajinkya Rahane | IND | 3 | 6 | 1 | 347 | 69.40 | 188 | 1 | 1 |
Virat Kohli | IND | 3 | 6 | 0 | 309 | 51.50 | 211 | 1 | 0 |
Rohit Sharma | IND | 3 | 5 | 2 | 238 | 79.33 | 82 | 0 | 3 |
Luke Ronchi | NZ | 3 | 6 | 0 | 200 | 33.33 | 80 | 0 | 1 |
Tom Latham | NZ | 3 | 6 | 0 | 194 | 32.33 | 74 | 0 | 3 |
TOP WICKET-TAKERS
Bowler | Team | Matches | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | Strike rate | 5WI | 10WM | BBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R Ashwin | IND | 3 | 146.3 | 28 | 480 | 27 | 17.78 | 32.56 | 3 | 2 | 7/59 |
Ravindra Jadeja | IND | 3 | 144 | 39 | 337 | 14 | 24.07 | 61.71 | 1 | 0 | 5/73 |
Trent Boult | NZ | 3 | 106.4 | 20 | 333 | 10 | 33.30 | 64.00 | 0 | 0 | 3/38 |
Mitchell Santner | NZ | 3 | 155.2 | 25 | 524 | 10 | 52.40 | 93.20 | 0 | 0 | 3/60 |
Mohd Shami | IND | 3 | 75.1 | 10 | 243 | 8 | 30.38 | 56.38 | 0 | 0 | 3/46 |
Bhuvneshwar Kumar | IND | 1 | 27 | 6 | 76 | 6 | 12.67 | 27.00 | 1 | 0 | 5/48 |
Matt Henry | NZ | 2 | 82 | 12 | 254 | 6 | 42.33 | 82.00 | 0 | 0 | 3/46 |
Jeetan Patel | NZ | 2 | 83 | 8 | 292 | 6 | 48.67 | 83.00 | 0 | 0 | 2/56 |
BREAKDOWN OF RUNS SCORED
Team | Innings | Runs | Wickets | Average | 4s | 6s | 100s | 50s | 0s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
India | 6 | 2047 | 43 | 47.60 | 236 | 22 | 3 | 13 | 2 |
New Zealand | 6 | 1351 | 60 | 22.52 | 169 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 12 |
BREAKDOWN OF WICKETS TAKEN
Team | Wickets | Bowled | Catches | WK+field+C&B | LBW | RO | 5wi | 10wm | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
India | 60 | 14 | 21 | 2+16+3 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 2 | ||
New Zealand | 43 | 4 | 27 | 5+21+1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
INDIA | Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | 5WI | 10WM | BBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pace | 3 | 148 | 27 | 443 | 16 | 27.69 | 55.56 | 1 | 0 | 5/48 |
Spin | 4 | 304 | 67 | 862 | 41 | 21.02 | 44.56 | 4 | 2 | 7/59 |
Total | 7 | 452 | 94 | 1305 | 57 | 22.89 | 47.65 | 5 | 2 | 7/59 |
NEW ZEALAND | Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | Strike Rate | 5WI | 10WM | BBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pace | 4 | 277 | 50 | 863 | 21 | 41.10 | 79.05 | 0 | 0 | 3/38 |
Spin | 6 | 327 | 47 | 1128 | 21 | 53.71 | 93.52 | 0 | 0 | 3/60 |
Total | 10 | 604 | 97 | 1991 | 42 | 47.40 | 86.29 | 0 | 0 | 3/38 |