On Sunday, November 3, India succumbed to a tough loss by 25 runs in the third Test of the three-match Test series against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With that, the Indian cricket team were whitewashed in a three-match Test series at home for the first-time in history, suffering a 0-3 defeat after their earlier Test losses came in Bengaluru and Pune last month.
While chasing a target of 147 runs on day three, the Indian batting lineup was no match to the spin duo of Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips, who picked up nine wickets among themselves, to help bundle out India for 121 runs in just 29.1 overs. It has also meant that the chance for the Men in Blue to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final have dwindled significantly with five Test matches against Australia down under for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series, which is set to happen later this month.
In this article, SportsTiger gives ratings to Indian players after their loss against New Zealand in the third Test.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammed Siraj – 2
The two stalwarts of Indian cricket, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were far from their best during the Test series against New Zealand as their performance in the third Test was poor to say the least. While Rohit Sharma managed to lose his wicket to pacer Matt Henry twice on a Mumbai pitch where 16 wickets fell to spin, Virat Kohli ran himself out in the first innings before a brilliant delivery from Ajaz Patel had his number in the second innings.
Sarfaraz Khan was dismissed twice by Ajaz Patel with the first one being on a beautiful delivery turning away from the batter, while the second one was on a full toss. In the Mumbai Test, Mohammed Siraj bowled just six overs in the first innings, looking quite ineffective with the new ball, while the captain didn’t introduce him into the attack in the second innings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin – 4.5
Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking relatively secured in the first innings on a turning pitch in Mumbai before a reverse sweep against the run of play on the bowling of Ajaz Patel led to his leg stump being flattened on the ground for a well-made 30 off 52. Meanwhile, in the second innings, he was trapped in front of the stumps lbw by Glenn Phillips early in the piece, which led to an Indian batting collapse.
Ravichandran Ashwin had a poor series with the ball compared to his lofty standards as he took only four wickets in the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, with all of them coming in the second innings. India needed him to do a rear-guard action with the bat in both the innings, but he didn’t quite do himself justice as a batter in the Test or the series.
Washington Sundar, Akash Deep – 6.5
Washington Sundar continued his good run with the bat and ball in the Mumbai Test after a triumphant return to the longest format of the game in Pune. He picked up five wickets with the ball across both the innings apart from scoring an unbeaten 38 off 36 in the first innings before his dismissal in the second innings gave New Zealand a 3-0 Test series victory.
Akash Deep was quite impressive with the new ball in the both the innings against the Black Caps, trapping Devon Conway in front of the stumps lbw in the first innings before castling captain Tom Latham in the second innings, to showcase his credentials to be the part of the playing XI in upcoming Test series in Australia.
Shubman Gill – 8
Shubman Gill played an exceptional innings for India in response to a very good first innings total from New Zealand on a wearing pitch in Mumbai. He scored 90 off 146 with seven fours and one maximum in the first innings, mixing caution with aggression against some impressive bowling from the opposition spinners before his second innings downfall came at the worst possible time for India.
Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja – 8.5
Rishabh Pant stuck to his guns of playing aggressive cricket with the bat in the face of adversity, scoring twin fifties in the Mumbai Test against New Zealand, to keep India in the game. Ravindra Jadeja got into the groove with the ball for the first-time in the Test series, picking up a third 10-wicket match haul in his illustrious career, dismissing five batters each in both the innings at the Wankhede Stadium, but his effort didn’t prove to be enough for India.