We've seen some good cricket during this currently ongoing New Zealand tour of India. After India lost to New Zealand in the World Cup, it was a shot in the arm for cricket fans when the men in blue won the T20 series 3-0. Then it was time for the test series. The first test at Kanpur was a disappointing draw and will probably be remembered more for the now-famous Gutka guy. The second test at Mumbai is where Indian fans really found reason to cheer.
The Indian opener made 150 in the first innings. Shubman Gill’s 44 and later Axar Patel’s 52 were other notable contributions to the Indian first innings total of 325.
Virat Kohli was adjudged out and he had to depart without scoring. Cheteshwar Pujara also left without troubling the scorekeepers.
Confident that he wasn’t out, Kohli took the DRS but the third umpire upheld the ‘Out’ decision.
Ajaz Patel took all ten Indian wickets of the innings. A spectacular and extremely rare feat in cricket – achieved only by Jim Laker in 1956 and Anil Kumble in 1999.
In a sense he was playing at ‘home’. Patel was born in Mumbai and moved to New Zealand as a child.
The visitors were bundled out for just 62 runs in about 28 overs.
Only two batsmen reached double figures and it was a humiliating rout.
Mohammed Siraj bowled brilliantly to take three wickets in the first innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin snaffled four wickets in each innings and conceded barely above a run an over.
He was declared man of the match.
After bundling out NZ for 62, India added to their first innings lead and declared the innings at 276 for 7.
It took less than an hour on day four of the test for India to plough through the remaining NZ batsmen who were all out for just 167.
Ajaz Patel made history and it was acknowledged graciously by the winning team.
In this image, we see Axar Patel, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra (NZ player of Indian descent whose name Rachin is inspired by 'Ra' from Rahul Dravid's name and 'chin' from Sachin Tendulkar's name) and Ravindra Jadeja.
India is back at the No 1 spot on the world test rankings. The 372-run victory is Team India's biggest victory by runs in tests. It was a great few days at the office for the men in blue in Mumbai.
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