IND vs NZ | Ajaz’s love affair with Wankhede eclipse Pant’s resilience as Kiwis sweep India at home after 24 years

ByDebayan Sinha, SportsCafe Editor

11/03/2024

A New Zealand unit without Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, and Mitchell Santner beat India by 25 runs to clean-sweep the hosts 3-0 after 24 years. Rishabh Pant’s gritty 64 went in vain as Ajaz Patel’s six-fer coupled with Glenn Phillips’ three-fer bundled India for 121 in a Mumbai rank-turner.

As New Zealand’s batters struggled with their technique, Ajaz Patel and William O’Rourke resumed their innings on the third day. The day's play kicked off with Ravindra Jadeja starting the bowling attack. After impressive overs from both Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja dismissed Patel, wrapping up New Zealand’s innings at 174 runs. Following a brief break, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal entered the crease, facing a target of 147 runs. The pair approached their innings with caution, mindful of the turning pitch. However, Rohit’s innings was curtailed when Matt Henry bowled a short delivery, leaving the score at 13/1. From that point, India’s downfall began as Ajaz wreaked havoc at Wankhede, taking the wickets of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Sarfaraz Khan quickly. With just 107 runs needed, India found themselves in dire straits at 41/5, with Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant at the crease. The duo built a crucial partnership, adding 42 runs to bring the score to 66/5, offering India a glimmer of hope. However, Patel soon dismissed Jadeja, bringing Washington Sundar to the crease. Pant was in sensational form, displaying his trademark cheeky shots, and he reached his half-century off just 48 deliveries. With Pant leading the charge, India stood at 92/6 after 20 overs, needing 55 runs to win at lunch.

India found themselves in a spot of bother when Rishabh Pant was dismissed by Ajaz Patel, having scored 64 runs off 57 balls after earning six singles in the first over after Lunch. Subsequently, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar milked their way for a while before Ashwin’s attempt to reverse sweep brought down curtains on his stay. Phillips cleaned up Akash Deep in the next ball before Sundar succumbed to pressure in the next over, handing Ajaz yet another memorable outing at his hometown with a six-fer under his name. New Zealand enforced a historic whitewash against India, 24 years after South Africa did in 2000.

What was this actually?

Very clear the deflection here. There's no controversy here.

When bat is resting on the pad already, it's not going to show the spike. Impact causes spike. Anyway, clear deflection here.

Terrific umpiring under pressure 👌#INDvsNZ #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/DKhHzgmfsY
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) November 3, 2024

He is the best!

There shouldn’t be any doubt now that Rishabh Pant is the greatest wicket keeper batsman India has ever produced. Well played Spidey. pic.twitter.com/xoqxJJXQqD
— Kevin (@imkevin149) November 3, 2024

Hope he comes back and show what he is!

More POWER to you @klrahul ❤️🙌🏻#INDvsNZTEST #indvsnz pic.twitter.com/SMXkhgEq6r
— Ajaykiran21 (@ajaykiran21) November 3, 2024

Yeah!

Newzealand created History in India

First time India whitewashed😡#Indvsnz
— Naresh (@nrs6699) November 3, 2024

#IndvsNz #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/GE4UcuAirc
— Sharath JSP (@Sharathk27) November 3, 2024

LOL!

Rohit Sharma in Press be like

"40/50 saal me ek baar to chalta hai yaar"#INDvsNZ #retire #rohit pic.twitter.com/Rm2JEqjl2j
— VιpeяQuake (@viperquake7) November 3, 2024

Speechless fr!