Black Caps achieve greatest Test Series win by sweeping India

By Kris Shannon

Catholic tradition once held that sainthood was achieved only after the performance of three miracles.

An unprecedented clean sweep in India secured, a team of cricketing saints are heading back home.

The Black Caps tonight completed their greatest series win – one of the best results for any nation in test history – by whitewashing India in their own conditions.

It was an unprecedented accomplishment, attained in unbelievable fashion, with Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips and their teammates defending a target of 147 to claim victory in the third test at Wankhede Stadium.

Only once in 91 years had India been swept at home in a multi-test series, never across three matches. Only twice in 95 years had New Zealand won a test in India, until this series began.

Confirming their status as Kiwi sporting deities, each triumph on this unforgettable tour exceeded the previous.

An eight-wicket success in Bengaluru was remarkable, but earned with the aid of unusually favourable conditions. A 113-run victory in Pune was delivered by Mitchell Santner’s astonishing 13-wicket haul, yet the excitement had been sapped long before the final ball.

Mumbai, though? The 25-run result in Mumbai capped a test that at various points belonged to the hosts, only for the suddenly unstoppable Black Caps to overcome a team who boasted 31 wins from 32 matches when chasing targets of 200 or fewer at home.

Patel, like the previous trip to the city of his birth, was once more central to the drama. Unlike the 2021 test in which he collected all 10 wickets in an innings, however, this time he bowled his nation to victory.

The veteran spinner tore the heart out of the Indian batting order to register 6-57, including the key wicket of the only batter threatening to carry India across the line.

Rishabh Pant (64 off 57) looked like sprinting through the finishing tape before Patel rounded out another 10-wicket match haul at the venue – with some assistance from TV umpire Paul Reiffel.

The Australian will always find a home on this side of the Tasman after finding the faintest of edges from the bat of a dismayed Pant, forced to trudge off with a shake of the head and the job not done.

Phillips, no longer a part-timer, complemented his spin partner with an invaluable 3-42, taking two of the last three wickets as India crept ever closer. The pair ended the match with 15 of 20 scalps in their collection and, given Santner failed a pre-match fitness test to join Kane Williamson on the sidelines, their shared contributions were critical.

Supporting those efforts on the final day was flawless catching and decisive captaincy from skipper Tom Latham, starting life in the role with a result of which his predecessors would never dare to dream.

Even Latham must have wondered whether it was possible when India were set 147 to prevent what at home would be an ignominious outcome.

After opener Rohit Sharma clubbed a couple of boundaries and was swiftly felled by Matt Henry, a slither of hope began to grow when first-innings top-scorer Shubman Gill mistakenly left alone a Patel delivery that crashed into his stumps.

It took the left-armer three more balls for the Black Caps to truly believe, bringing forward Virat Kohli and producing an edge that Daryl Mitchell snagged low at slip. Kohli staggered off with a series average of 15.5.

Pant quickly indicated his intentions for the chase, coming down the crease and driving Patel over his head for six, but the introduction of Phillips made the task much more difficult.

The allrounder had on day two been denied a first-over wicket by a drop and on this occasion took the field out of the equation, deceiving Yashasvi Jaiswal and rapping the explosive opener on the pad.

Minutes later, New Zealand were halfway there, as Sarfaraz Khan gave away his wicket to leave India teetering on 29-5.

Freefall was barely avoided. With the hosts needing 95, Patel turned one sharply into Pant’s back leg and launched an unconvincing appeal. No interest behind the stumps, the tourists moved on and watched in horror as the big screen revealed a review would have removed Pant for 21.

Intent to seed that moment in the nightmares of Latham, Pant put on 42 from 53 with Ravindra Jadeja, but Patel stamped out the stand by inducing a bat-pad from the junior partner that Will Young pouched with one hand.

India reached the second half of their chase and Pant enjoyed his lunch better than the bowlers, racing to 50 from 48 in a one-man match-winning bid.

Fifty-five were were required when the players reemerged and India chipped away with six easy singles from Phillips. Pant then immediately attacked Patel and picked up another four before laughing off a punt of a review, celebrating his survival by once more finding the fence.

That review left Latham with one. The following ball, his next punt paid off. Three more wickets to claim; 40 runs left to defend.

Phillips enjoyed a turn in the spotlight before Patel returned and, appropriately, completed what a few weeks ago had seemed an impossible mission.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission