India’s spinners yesterday wasted little time in removing New Zealand’s remaining batters as the hosts sealed a record 372-run victory in the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium to secure the series 1-0.
It was the biggest margin of victory by runs for India in a home match, eclipsing their 337-run win against South Africa in a Delhi test in 2015.
With the series victory, India also avenged their defeat to New Zealand in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in Southampton, England, in June.
Photo: AP
Rahul Dravid, India’s newly appointed head coach, said that the score did not reflect how hard the players needed to work for the series victory, after the first Test in Kanpur, India, ended in a draw.
“I know this result looks a bit one-sided, but right through the series we’ve been made to work hard,” Dravid said.
“There have been phases of the game where we’ve been behind and had to fight back. Credit to the team for pulling themselves out of some difficult positions,” he added.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Jayant Yadav did most of the damage on the fourth morning, picking up 4-49 — his career-best figures — to cut through New Zealand’s middle and lower order at the sun-bathed ground overlooking the Arabian Sea.
With just a few hundred fans present in the stands to cheer the team on, Ravichandran Ashwin took the final wicket to finish with 4-34, as New Zealand were all out for 167 in their second innings, chasing 540 for victory.
The wily off-spinner took eight in the match and was adjudged Player of the Series for his 14 wickets in the series.
Ashwin is the world’s leading wicket-taker this year with 52.
Opening batter Mayank Agarwal, only playing because of injuries and others being rested, picked up the Player of the Match award for his 150 in the first innings and 62 in the second in Mumbai.
It was also a happy return to the side for captain Virat Kohli, who was rested for the three-match Twenty20 series and the drawn first Test in Kanpur.
“To come back with a win again, it’s a great feeling as a team, and for me returning as captain as well,” he said at the presentation.
“It was just a clinical performance, something we’ve seen from our team time and again. You want individuals to step up and I think in this match they did,” he said.
PERTH AXED AS HOST
AFP, PERTH, Australia
Perth was yesterday axed as host of the potentially pivotal fifth Ashes Test between Australia and England because of tough COVID-19 rules that require players to spend 14 days in quarantine.
A decision on the new venue for the Test, scheduled to start on Jan. 14, is yet to be made with Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney all eager to play host.
It means that Perth would go without a Test for a second consecutive year after also missing out last season due to COVID-19, which robbed it of a proposed historic first Test between Australia and Afghanistan.
“We are very disappointed that we are unable to stage the fifth men’s Ashes Test at the Perth Stadium,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said, ahead of the start of the Ashes in Brisbane on Wednesday last week.
“We did everything we could in partnership with the WA [Western Australia state] government and WA Cricket to make it work under the current border and health arrangements, but unfortunately this was not possible,” Hockley said.
There had been suggestions that some of Western Australia’s tough COVID-19 restrictions would be relaxed for the cricketers, but the emergence of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 complicated matters.
Last week, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said that the state’s strict quarantine rules would remain, meaning that players traveling from the fourth Test in Sydney would need to quarantine for two weeks on arrival.
The decision to dump Perth came after a last-minute bid by the city to swap its Test match with Adelaide’s.
Adelaide is due to host the second Test from Thursday next week, after the opener in Brisbane this week.
Travelers from Brisbane do not need to quarantine when arriving in Perth and Western Australia Sport and Recreation Minister Tony Buti earlier yesterday said it made sense to change the order of venues.
“If cricket isn’t able to meet our border rules for the fifth Test in Perth, then they should move the second Test to Perth instead. It’s a no-brainer,” he said.
The suggestion brought a swift response from the South Australian Cricket Association, which issued a stern rebuke.
The Ashes are to be played in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, before the fifth Test.
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