NZ thrash India by seven wickets to sweep series

REUTERS – New Zealand romped to a seven-wicket victory over India in the second Test in Christchurch today (02) for an emphatic 2-0 series sweep of the number one side in the world.

The Black Caps dismissed the tourists for 124 in the first hour of the day before chasing down their 132-run victory target for the loss of three wickets.

Henry Nicholls hit the winning run as New Zealand drove home a dominance that was only briefly challenged in the series as India succumbed to their first two defeats in the World Test Championship.

Openers Tom Latham (52) and Tom Blundell (55) did most of the work before falling to Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah respectively, the latter producing a peach of a ball to take out the batsman’s off stump.

The hosts were already well within sight of their target by the time the wickets started falling, however, and it only spared India back-to-back thrashings by 10 wickets.

The thumping victory in the first Test in Wellington did much to ease the pain of New Zealand’s miserable tour of Australia over the New Year and the series sweep underlined how tough it is to beat the Black Caps on home soil.

After the drama of day two, when 16 wickets fell as India stormed back into the match only to be pegged back by the close of play, there was a more subdued atmosphere at an overcast Hagley Oval.

India resumed on 90 for six with a lead of 97 but Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami and Bumrah all quickly departed and New Zealand were soon heading back to the dressing room to pad up with only 34 more runs on the board.

Trent Boult took four for 28 and Tim Southee grabbed three for 36 as New Zealand’s experienced strike pairing did what they do in home conditions.

India’s final wicket fell when Bumrah charged down the track for a single and was left stranded as Ravindra Jadeja declined the run, a suitably chaotic end to a poor effort from a much vaunted batting order on New Zealand’s green pitches.

India

1st innings 242

2nd innings

P. Shaw c Latham b Southee 14

M. Agarwal lbw Boult 03

C. Pujara b Boult 24

V. Kohli lbw de Grandhomme 14

A. Rahane b Wagner 09

U. Yadav b Boult 01

H. Vihari c Watling b Southee 09

R. Pant c Watling b Boult 04

R. Jadeja not out 16

M. Shami c Blundell b Southee 05

J. Bumrah run out 04

Extras: (b9, lb12) 21

Total:Â (all out, 46 overs) 124

Fall: 1-8, 2-26, 3-51, 4-72, 5-84, 6-89, 7-97, 8-97, 9-108

Bowling: Southee 11-2-36-3, Boult 14-4-28-4, Jamieson 8-4-18-0, de Grandhomme 5-3-3-1, Wagner 8-1-18-1

New Zealand

1st innings 235

2nd innings

T. Latham c Pant b Yadav 52

T. Blundell b Bumrah 55

K. Williamson c Rahane b Bumrah 05

R. Taylor not out 05

H. Nicholls not out 05

Extras:Â (b1, lb8, nb1) 10

Total: (three wickets, 36 overs) 132

Fall: 1-103, 2-112, 3-121

Bowling: Bumrah 13-2-39-2, Yadav 14-3-45-1, Shami 3-1-11-0, Jadeja 5-0-24-0 (1nb), Kohli 1-0-4-0