173 runs of the highest quality from Rachin Ravindra have guided New Zealand to a historic victory in Bengaluru. 36 years later, Kiwis have won a Test match in India. The southpaw who’s got a great record in Bengaluru across formats shined in his first Test match at the venue and bagged the ‘Player of the Match’ award for the India vs New Zealand 1st Test.
Although a team effort, with Tim Southee, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, and William O’Rourke all clicking at the right time, it was Rachin who took the team from 233/7 to 402 and handed a mammoth 356-run lead to the visitors. If not for the impressive century and 137-run partnership with Southee, New Zealand might have been chasing 207 instead of 107.
Questionable batting
As much as New Zealand should be applauded, one has to criticize Team India’s performance. The decision to bat first can’t be questioned much, but India’s batting can be. Sarfaraz Khan, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and Yashasvi Jaiswal threw their wickets away. In no way was 46/10 a justifiable score on the surface. It was incredibly tough but not worthy of bundling out for under fifty.
A similar collapse occurred in the second innings as well. From 408/3, India were reduced to 462/10. Losing 7 wickets for just 56 isn’t good at all. Nervous nineties got to Rishabh Pant while Sarfaraz got carried away after his 150. Both of these players can’t really be criticised, though. They had done their bit and got India into the lead. Jadeja’s dismissal was the most disappointing in the second innings, and after Pant smashed a mammoth 107-meter six, the new ball troubled India quite a bit.
Rohit Sharma’s captaincy under scanner
The Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, didn’t have the best game. Most questioned his decision to bat first, but even ignoring that, you can find several glaring mistakes. This started with sending Virat Kohli to bat at 3. With KL Rahul present, a player who’s opened for India in Test cricket, he chose to send Kohli.
With New Zealand 233/7, he had the chance to give Jasprit Bumrah the ball and send Southee back. Instead, he chose to keep the spinners on who went for plenty. From overs 64.5 to 86.4, Southee and Rachin Ravindra added 137 runs. During this period, Bumrah bowled just 3 overs, all of which came after they’d batted 15 overs together. One can understand he didn’t want to tire Bumrah and keep him ready for the new ball. But can’t Bumrah bowl 6-12 balls? Had he broken that partnership, India might not even have needed the new ball.
What’s going on with Ashwin?
Ravichandran Ashwin has been taking to warm up. It happened against England earlier in the year, and it surely happened in the India vs New Zealand 1st Test. He went at nearly 6 runs an over in the first innings and claimed one wicket, that too largely by the batter’s mistake. Rohit didn’t really trust him defending 107, and he was the last bowler to be handed the ball.
One has to wonder, is this the start of the end? Many athletes across all sports go through this. They continue to be good, but not consistently. On their day, they are incredibly good, but the bad days start to increase with age. Is this the start of Ashwin’s decline?
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