India’s difficulties against quality spin bowling were glaringly exposed during the second Test against New Zealand, as they faced the alarming possibility of their first-ever home Test series defeat to the Kiwis. By the end of day two, New Zealand had established a commanding 301-run lead, bolstered by Tom Latham’s impressive 86 and Mitchell Santner’s remarkable bowling performance of 7/53, which dismantled the Indian batting lineup. With Latham’s innings contributing to a 103-run first-innings lead, New Zealand finished day two at 198/5, setting themselves up for a historic series win.
The Indian batting collapse continued, as they were bowled out for a mere 156 in 45.3 overs. This followed yet another dismal session in which they lost six wickets for just 91 runs in the morning. The pitch, which had shown no significant challenges for the New Zealand batsmen, seemed to present an illusion of difficulty for the Indian side, who struggled with fundamental errors throughout the series. Their recent record included an embarrassing all-time low score of 46 all out in Bengaluru, marking their first loss to New Zealand in 36 years on home soil.
Washington Sundar’s performance stood out as a silver lining for India, as he completed his maiden 10-wicket haul in Tests, taking four more wickets to add to his first-innings figures of 7/59. However, the Indian spinners appeared to be outperformed by their New Zealand counterparts. R. Ashwin managed just one wicket for 64 runs, and Ravindra Jadeja remained wicketless in a match where spin was expected to dominate. As Santner’s conventional spin challenged the Indian batters, their inability to rotate the strike further exacerbated their difficulties.
A particularly shocking moment came when star batsman Virat Kohli, after just nine balls, missed a full toss from Santner and was clean bowled, a sight that will linger in the minds of fans and players alike. Yashasvi Jaiswal made a decent start with 30 runs but fell to an edge that handed Glenn Phillips his first wicket. Rishabh Pant misread the pitch conditions and was dismissed for 18, compounding India’s woes at 83 for five. Sarfaraz Khan, who had previously performed well, was out for a careless shot, leaving India in a precarious position as they stared down the possibility of a historic series defeat.
