IND vs NZ: 3 reasons why India lost the second test in Pune

New Zealand won the second IND vs NZ test in Pune by 113 runs to seal the series.

Tom Latham’s New Zealand team made history in Pune by winning the second IND vs NZ test of the three-match series. With this win, which followed a seven-wicket win in Bengaluru, New Zealand sealed their maiden test series in India.

This outcome also meant that India lost their first home test series since 2012, a period which consisted of 18 consecutive series wins.

This win was unlike the one in Bengaluru. While in Bengaluru, it was the pace-friendly conditions where the Kiwi pacers thrived, in Pune, they did it on a spin-friendly dry surface that was made to bring the Indian spinners into play more than they did in the first IND vs NZ test. Mitchell Santner was New Zealand’s star with the ball as he took 13 wickets in the match.

Let’s look at the three reasons why India lost the 2nd IND vs NZ test in Pune:

1. Batting malfunction against spin

Before the IND vs NZ Pune test, Mitchell Santner had played 28 tests and picked up only 54 wickets at an average of 42. How did they give away 13 wickets to a bowler who didn’t even take two wickets per game? The answer is simple: they just can’t play spin as well as people thought they could – a point Simon Doull boldly pointed.

The current crop of Indian batsmen have been bred on a glut of T20 and white-ball cricket. Rohit Sharma, who revolutinized India’s white-ball teams, has bred in more of this “freedom” and “intent” which has meant that these batsman can’t survive the spinners long enough to wait for the time the ball gets older and softer when run-scoring becomes more comfortable.

The art of surviving tough spells and periods of play in test cricket has been lost on the Indian batsman. Their method of defense is to attack, when it should indeed be to defend and see out the difficult period of play and wait for their time.

2. Indian spinners didn’t find the right pace

It feels difficult to even comprehend this: the Indian spinners couldn’t find the correct pace for the Pune pitch while the New Zealand spinners did.

The New Zealand spinners in Pune bowled generally between the 85-90 KPH speeds while the Indian spinners bowled between the 90-95 KPH range. This meant that the Kiwi spinners found more turn than the Indians did.

They coupled it with their accuracy of pitching the ball on the same spot from where it would turn in both directions and also go straight with the bowler’s angle. All of this combined to bring the downfall of the Indian batsmen, most of already felt handicapped to spin-bowling.

An Indian spinner who is accurate in this type of bowling is Axar Patel, but he couldn’t make a difference from the bench.

3. Toss fell in New Zealand’s favor

Before this test, Pune had hosted two tests and both of them were won by the team batting first. Tom Latham was lucky to have lost the toss in Bengaluru, where Rohit Sharma elected to bat first, and he was lucky in Pune to win the toss. The decision to bat first by Latham was no-brainer.

The pitch in Pune is not good for batting even on day 1. And it just keeps deteriorating as the match progresses.

While India have themselves to blame for their batting malfunctions, the misfortune of losing the toss can’t be completely forgotten either.

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