3 Things We Learned from the India New Zealand Test Series

3 Things We Learned from the India New Zealand Test Series

After the nail-biting finish in the fading light in Kanpur, India landed the knockout punch and wrapped up the series victory in style in Mumbai, handing New Zealand their heaviest Test defeat by 372 runs. This win takes the hosts back above the Blackcaps in the ICC rankings as the world’s number one Test team, and here are the major talking points from this series between the top two nations in the longest format.

India’s home dominance

India secured their 14th consecutive Test series victory at home with this 1-0 win over New Zealand, extending a record that is unparalleled in the modern game. The Men in Blue have traditionally always been successful on home soil, but this supremacy has reached even greater heights under the stewardship of Virat Kohli. As captain, Kohli has the highest home win percentage at 77.4% and has won an astonishing 24 of his 31 Tests in the subcontinent as skipper while losing only two.

India haven’t lost a Test series at home since their 2-1 defeat to England in 2012, and conquering the Men in Blue with the red ball in their backyard just might be the toughest task in world cricket at the moment.

The greatness of Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin edged one step closer to history after securing his 9th man of the series award against New Zealand, taking him to second in the all-time list behind only Muttiah Muralitharan, who has 11.

The all-rounder picked up 14 wickets in this series at an average of just 11.3 while also making two crucial knocks in Kanpur that got the hosts out of a tight situation with the bat. The off-spinner is now also the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2021 with 52 scalps at an average of 16, making it the fourth time in his career that he has taken 50+ wickets in a calendar year.

Squad Depth

Despite missing several first-team players such as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, India registered their largest Test victory in Mumbai to comfortably beat the world champions. This performance speaks volumes of India’s immense squad depth with the red ball and the quality of the bench strength that allows the hosts to rest key players.

In the absence of both openers, Mayank Agarwal stood up to the task in Mumbai, scoring an outstanding 150 on a spinning track at the Wankhede to give India some crucial first innings runs on the board. In the middle order, Shreyas Iyer shined on debut with a century in Kanpur while Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel and Jayant Yadav all chipped in with valuable contributions throughout the series.