New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra (left) and Will Young celebrate their win over India in the first Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
DH Photo/ SK Dinesh
Bengaluru: The record books will show that India lost the first Test against New Zealand by eight wickets, a comfortable win for the tourists if not an absolute drubbing. But that's only the half story.
What the result will not reveal is the way India fought back from the brink. The resilience they displayed after being shot out for their lowest Test innings total (46) at home and the character they showed to give themselves a flicker of hope after conceding a whopping 350-plus run first-innings lead.
Of course, India can't absolve themselves from certain questionable decisions. They misjudged the pitch, as admitted by skipper Rohit Sharma himself, to deny themselves a chance to bat in better conditions after winning the toss and played some loose shots to compound their woes in the first innings.
Despite rain and bad light eating into nearly one and half days' play, India managed to get themselves in a situation that they couldn't salvage the situation despite an excellent show with the bat in the second innings.
If India were to save the match, it should have rained longer than it did on Sunday's final day. And if they had to pull off a win, which always seemed improbable, Jasprit Bumrah had to conjure up a magical spell with the new ball.
It did rain and delayed the start by 90 minutes, but it wasn't long enough to deny New Zealand the time to chase the 107-run target. Bumrah did promise a miracle with a probing spell but that didn't yield more than two wickets on a surface that remained good for batting.
Tom Latham fell to the last ball of the incomplete over from Saturday as Bumrah caught the Kiwi skipper in front with the one that nipped back. The previous ball had shaped away with the bat perilously close to the ball. Bumrah struck again when he caught Devon Conway, another left-hander, in front.
Bowling round the wicket, the pacer angled the ball into left-hander but it jagged away after pitching, beating the outside edge and hitting the backpad in line which was confirmed by the DRS upon the batter's referral.
At 35/2 it was still New Zealand's game to lose but the Kiwis were clearly feeling the pressure when Player of the Match Rachin Ravindra, joining forces with Will Young in the middle, transferred it back to India. Small targets are often tricky to chase but defending them becomes doubly difficult when you concede a few fours.
Rachin manufactured a couple off Bumrah right after the second wicket fell while Young managed the same off Jadeja the next over. Two more fours, one via byes and another courtesy a rasping cut by Rachin off Jadeja took New Zealand to 62/2. And it wasn't long before New Zealand coasted to 110/2 with Rachin and Young stringing together a 75-run alliance for the undefeated third wicket.
This was New Zealand's first Test win in India in 36 years after their last such result in Mumbai in November 1998 and first ever win at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in four Tests having lost the previous three.
SCORE BOARD
INDIA (I Innings): 46 all out
NEW ZEALAND (I Innings): 402 all out
INDIA (II Innings): 462 all out
NEW ZEALAND (II Innings; o/N: 0/0): Latham lbw 0 (6b 6m) Conway lbw Bumrah 17(39b 67m 3x4) Young (not out) 48 (76b 123m 7x4 1x6) Rachin (not out) 39 (46b 62m 6x4) Extras (B-4 LB-1 NB-1) 6 Total (for 2 wkts 27.4 overs) 110 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Latham) 2-35 (Conway). Bowling: Bumrah 8-1-29-2 Siraj 7-3-16-0 Jadeja 7.4-1-28-0 (nb-1) Kuldeep 3-0-26-0 Ashwin 2-0-6-0.
Result: NZ won by eight wickets