New Zealand tour of India 2021 News

Mayank Agarwal has been adjudged Player of the Match for a big 150 in the first innings and following that up with another splendid half-century in the second innings on a pitch where all New Zealand batsmen and even Indian batsmen found it tough to negotiate for a long time. He would have been competing with Ajaz Patel, who took a staggering 14 wicket-haul in the game and tried to keep New Zealand in the game for as long as possible. However, he was the lone man standing for the hosts and Mayank Agarwal turned out to be the difference between the sides on a pitch where balls were turning square from the very first day. He expressed his jubilation at coming back to form and scoring runs at the top of the order. Notably, there were question marks over his future after twin failures in Kanpur where he struggled against Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson. "Feels nice to be among the runs, this knock will be special for me," he said in the post-match presentation. He was asked about the adjustments in the technique he made after the failures in Kanpur and he rejected the claim citing a discussion with the coach Rahul Dravid, who backed him to play with his own technique rather than changing the style midway through the series. He said that Dravid backed him by saying that his style of play has earned him runs in the past and rather he should focus on the mental aspect of his game. However, he did make some tweaks in his technique after suggestions from Sunil Gavaskar, who suggested that he was not getting side on to counter the away going deliveries and also that his backlift was too high to play with soft hands. Having delivered big runs in Mumbai, he has earned the right to be in India’s squad for the tour of South Africa, at least as a backup opener and he relished the prospect of the challenges that may come his and India’s way in the rainbow nation. "Very honestly, did nothing different after Kanpur. It was about having mental discipline. Rahul bhai told me there's no point thinking about technique mid-series. 'This is the technique that has got you runs, have a solid mindset, stick to your game plans, the runs will come. Sunny G told me to keep my bat low, be more side-on. I couldn't do that early on but it helped. I wasn't really thinking of a century in each innings, but yes definitely should've converted the 60. A different challenge in SA, we relish as a team."

New Zealand are on the brink of a loss, a loss that is likely to come because of a poor showing with the bat from them in their first innings where they were bowled out for 62, their lowest ever Test score against India in the history of the game. Recognising that the battle to draw the game where without any weather interruptions, the Kiwis would have to play out 180 overs or score 400 runs from here on (They are currently at 140-5) is almost impossible to achieve Rachin Ravindra said, “It’s always tough being bowled out for 60, a lot of things went wrong.” “We all strive to be better. We tried to put that sort of stuff behind. It was not our best performance but we knew we have got a second innings and we’ll keep fighting from there,” the left-hander, who was batting unbeaten on two runs said in a press conference at the end of third day’s play in Mumbai. Asked whether he will take in anything from his bowling performance and try and convert those learnings while he bats at the vicious turner in Wankhede, Ravindra, who has taken three wickets in the game and is batting with Henry Nicholls in an 11 run partnership which has taken up 49 balls, said that keeping the intent high would be his and his team’s main motto at the crease on day four. Shubman Gill became Ravindra's maiden Test scalp and he also poached Virat Kohli, getting him played down. “I think I carried an understanding of the surface and what I was doing from when I was bowling to adopting a game plan. It’s important, we keep our intent high. Get into good positions and smother the ball nicely,” said the 22-year-old. He further said that his resistance in the first game which gave New Zealand the famous draw in Kanpur will surely boost his confidence. “Yes, I will take confidence from it but we still have a very, very long way to go. Two days, 180 overs, there’s a lot of cricket to be played.”

Axar Patel, who has so far picked up nine wickets in the ongoing two-match Test series against New Zealand believes that 2021 has been his dream year. The 27-year-old who made his Test debut against England early this year believes that he is now picking form with the bat too and hence with all three spinners being proper batters, India can continue with the three spinners formula in the home Tests in future too. “Actually, this has been my dream year you can say. The way I bowled in England series and now how the New Zealand series panned out, in between, there was IPL as well, so I can say that this has really been a good year for me personally,” said the left-arm spinner at the end of the daily press conference at Mumbai. In five Tests so far, the Gujarat born bowling all-rounder has picked up 36 wickets. Talking about his goals, “My endeavour is to keep improving and look at areas where I need to get better. All the hard work that I have put in all these years have finally yielded results this year.” Axar who scored his maiden Test fifty in this match and who has contributed really well with the bat in this game particularly, having scored 52 and 41 in two innings, said that the team can now freely think of playing three spinners as he is able to grab his chances with the bat. “The batting coach (Vicky Rathour) and team management have faith in my batting abilities, and they have always told me that ‘you can do it’. Earlier, when I got chances, I couldn't convert my starts but this time when I got chances, I was able to convert. “My batting is benefitting my team and if you see that myself, Jaddu and Ash bhai play as all-rounders, it releases a bit of pressure on our batters, so it's a good sign. As long as I keep contributing it’s good for both me and my team,” he stated. With New Zealand at 140-5, while chasing 540, India have their tail up and will try and finish the game as early as possible on day four.

India took another emphatic step towards their dominance in the game and series win on the third day of the second Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. They have eliminated the top five batsmen of the Blackcaps batting lineup and are still ahead by a mammoth margin of 400 runs to seek dominance on the fourth day of the Test. They were already ahead in the game and even a batting collapse would not have brought the Kiwis back in the game. That collapse did not come either as Mayank Agarwal was in no mood to waste his form and Cheteshwar Pujara was eager to score some runs with having no real pressure on his shoulders in terms of the team’s situation. Frustration continues for Pujara, Kohli India were way ahead in the game on the third day and lack of runs and game time in the middle would have been one of the reason behind India delaying their declaration or taking a cautious approach in batting. The two main batsmen in focus were Virat Kohli and Pujara, who have spent more than two years of their life without scoring a hundred and their batting numbers have started to make them look like a pale shadow of themselves. Pujara, in particular, was looking to bat with intent as he punched on anything loose by Ajaz Patel and Will Somerville. He was down the track quickly and played with the minds of the spinners to take a strong foot forwards towards the elusive big score. However, as has been the case this year, his error in judgment while playing a flatter delivery off Ajaz Patel got him dismissed in the slip as the slowish delivery gripped and turned ever so slightly to grab the edge of his bat. His departure was followed by a resounding welcome for Kohli by the spectators present at Wankhede Stadium as they would not be hoping to see him again for a long time, at least in the format. Also, the team were in fantastic condition and there was no pressure for him against any bowlers, except the lone warrior in Ajaz Patel. Kohli looked promising and showed his intention of playing with the aggressive approach by taking Somerville over the fence at deep midwicket. He was also decisive in his footwork and was rarely found in no man’s land against spinners. However, just when he too looked set for a big score, an innocuous delivery took the inside edge of his bat and ricocheted to hit the stumps and leaving him with a wry smile which was a clear sign of helplessness from the Indian skipper. Infinite tricks of Ravichandran Ashwin India were not banking on the pacers to do the magical job they did in the first innings and they were at the Kiwi openers from the word go with Ashwin from one end with the new ball. He has had tasted tremendous success against Tom Latham and his variations have always kept the left-hander guessing although he was super in Kanpur. Even there, he was the only bowler who troubled him with his variations in spin and pace. The off-spinner rolled out a perfect mix of slower off-spinner and faster arm balls to deceive Latham into playing down the wrong line. He did not have to play too many tricks to claim Young, who could not provide a solid defence to a sharply bouncing delivery while he was playing a few attacking shots too cleanly. Ross Taylor appeared to have come to the crease with the thought that batting while defending a lot of deliveries was not a viable option and hence he tried to throw caution to the wind. The idea was good but the execution was awful as he picked the worst ball to attack. Ashwin was very slow in the air, so much so that Taylor had to wait for an eternity to have the ball in his arc and his inability to delay the shot produced a top edge that Pujara caught with some struggle. Looking ahead to the fourth day India have just five wickets to take and win the series 1-0 and there are far too much help in the pitch for them and very few batsmen to lead New Zealand’s resistance on such a helpful pitch. New Zealand have the duo of Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls to lead their resistance on the fourth day and they would be looking to at least delay the inevitable if not bring about a miraculous escape.

After picking up a historic 10-wicket haul in the first innings, Ajaz Patel continued his dominance with the ball and went on to pick up four more wickets to achieve the best bowling figure by a visiting bowler against India. He reached the milestone by dismissing Jayant Yadav caught and bowled. He bagged 14 wickets in the match giving away 225 runs and moved past legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham to become the bowler with most wickets in a Test match in India. Botham held the record for 41 years since claiming figures of 13/106 in the 1980 Mumbai Test which England went on to win as well. in the very same game he had struck a century as well. As for other spinners in India, Patel with figures of 14/225 also went past the Australian spinning duo of Steve O’Keefe and Jason Krejza, who had taken 12 wickets each against India in the year 2017 and 2008 respectively. India lost only 17 wickets in the game as they declared their second innings at 276/7 after and setting a target of 540 runs for New Zealand to chase in more than two days of play remaining in the game. Mayank Agarwal followed his big century in the first innings with another splendid fifty and remained India’s highest run-scorer in both innings. India scored 325 runs in the first innings when all their batsmen succumbed to Ajaz Patel’s left-arm spin. In response, they skittled the Blackcaps for a mere 62 runs and took a massive lead of 263 runs. The first Test of the series ended in a draw leaving the second and final game as a series decide for both sides.

Australia chose to appoint Pat Cummins as their Test captain and added on the mental pressure to the player, who is already burdened body with the physical workload. Cummins himself expressed expectations that Australia will rotate their pacers in the upcoming Ashes series at home and hence his elevation as the Test skipper was some sort of watershed moment for pace bowlers across the world of cricket. However, the team management has a blueprint ready to relieve some of the pressure both off his body and brain by “strategically” using other bowling sources and collective leadership of players who have been at the highest level for a long time. The head coach Justin Langer said that the team will take care of all commitments of the side and ensure that Cummins doesn’t have to deal with a lot of undue challenges. He said that Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne will roll their arm over to give him options and breathing space in bowling while senior players such as Steve Smith, David Warner and his bowling mates such as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will give him collective cricketing ideas. "He (Cummins) will be fine strategically," Langer said. "It will just be maintaining the balance of everything else that goes with his bowling load and then captaining and all the other commitments. So we'll keep an eye on that. "Cam Green is going to be important there with his extra bowling that he can give. Marnus bowling some as well. So we'll try and manage him as best we can. The role of Steve Smith will become very important on the field"This day and age, there's so much data, you're so well prepared ... Pat will get all the gold nuggets. He's got lots of support around him. Steve Smith is the formal vice-captain. David Warner has got as good of a cricket brain in the game.” "Alex Carey's been a captain before, now he's behind the stumps. He's got his three best mates there in the bowlers (Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon). He's got massive upside Pat Cummins, as a leader and a captain of Australian cricket. He's an outstanding person, he's an elite player". Cummins was the only bowler who played all the Tests of the last Ashes series in 2019 in England while other pacers were rotated with the help of Peter Siddle and James Pattinson as options. The upcoming Ashes will answer a lot of questions about Cummins’s leadership and in general about the viability of a pace bowler as captain of the side, and whatever good or bad will be the outcome for them, will set a standard and example for the rest of the world.