New Zealand complete chase for historic victory

By Kris Shannon

New Zealand have held their nerve to record one of their best wins in almost 95 years of test cricket.

The loss of their skipper from the second ball of the fifth day didn’t worry the tourists, nor the probing of a fearsome Indian attack buoyed by a frenzied atmosphere in Bengaluru.

Instead, two players with a combined 25 tests’ experience coolly and methodically worked their way towards a 107-run target to secure an eight-wicket victory, the Black Caps’ third from 37 matches in India.

Will Young (48no) and Rachin Ravindra (39no) survived a new ball that was seaming and swinging then negated a deteriorating pitch offering variable turn, seeing off a unit boasting three of the top six-ranked bowlers in the world.

And they did it with barely a scare – one batter in the team only owing to an injury for Kane Williamson and the other playing his first test in the city of his parents’ birth.

It was a victory built on an outstanding initial four sessions, skittling the hosts for 46 before piling on 402 in reply. But India responded by plundering 462 in their second innings, setting up a tricky chase exacerbated by the loss of new captain Tom Latham and fellow opener Devon Conway in the first hour.

No matter – Young and Ravindra, putting together an unbeaten partnership of 75 runs from 92 balls, made it appear easy. History suggested that was hardly the case.

This was New Zealand’s first triumph in India since Sir Richard Hadlee took 10-88 – his fifth-best match figures – while leading a 136-run victory at Wankhede in 1988. That win came 19 years after their first in Nagpur, a 167-run success during their third trip to the country.

Now, with two tests to play, the tourists have a chance to avoid a series defeat in India – a feat they have managed twice in 14 attempts.

They are far from alone in their struggles. India have lost four of 48 tests at home in the last 10 years, twice to Australia and twice to England.

This Indian team currently lead the World Test Championship, having won eight of 11 matches in the current cycle, while the Black Caps entered on a four-test losing streak that spurred a captaincy change.

Add in the absence of Williamson alongside the side’s recent struggles offshore – earning only seven test wins away from home in the last decade – and this triumph would be bettered by few since New Zealand played their first test in 1930.

The way the day began emphasised the degree of difficulty in securing such a treasured result.

After surviving a huge shout from Jasprit Bumrah’s third delivery of the innings on the fourth night, Latham was less lucky from an unplayable second ball on the fifth morning.

That ball was moving about in a manner to quicken Kiwi pulses, while a boisterous crowd joined the players in appealing anything close.

The first half-hour disappeared in a blink as the Black Caps crept within 100, Young soon flicking Mohammed Siraj off his pads for the first boundary of the innings from the 48th delivery.

The unflappable right-hander was batting with a level of composure that belied his international inexperience, carving Siraj through backward point before pulling him for a second boundary of the 12th over.

But just when the crowd had been quietened, Bumrah angled one in to beat Conway, clip his back pad and, upon review, send him back to the pavilion.

New Zealand never missed a beat. Ravindra was under way with two boundaries in three balls, having cracked in second test hundred in the first innings and having proven at last year’s ODI World Cup he thrived in the big moment.

After pulling within 50, Kuldeep Yadav was introduced as the second of India’s formidable spin trio. Young ended his first over by coming down the track and flicking him over the fence.

The 31-year-old did escape on 34, when Ravindra Jadeja put down a tough return catch, but that fortune was well deserved. As was the boundary he then cut to collect the winning runs.