From ICC T20 World Cup high to Test low, Rohit hits both extremities in 2024

Kiwis make history handing India their first ever 3-0 whitewash in a home Test Series of three or more matches in 90 years, ever since India started playing Test matches in Dec 1933

Hosts also lose their top spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) table, slipping to 58.33 percentage points behind Australia’s 62.50

Need to work hard to lift their game and morale for the 5-Test away series in Australia if they are to remain in contention for their third straight WTC final

Both Rohit and Kohli will be under pressure to perform Down Under, and so will be Chief Coach Gautam Gambhir to show results

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins November 22 in Perth

The Indian cricket fans were left aghast after witnessing their national heroes crash to their most embarrassing home Test Series whitewash at the hands of New Zealand in the history of Indian Test cricket.

The narrow 25-run loss in the third and final Test match in Mumbai on Sunday, after crushing defeats in Bangalore and Pune, meant that India for the first time in the history of modern cricket suffered a 3-0 whitewash (lost all matches of a series with no matches being drawn or abandoned) in a home Test series of three or more matches.

There could not have been a sweeter redemption for the Kiwis, who came to India straight from their own 2-0 whitewash in a Test series against hosts Sri Lanka. This was undoubtedly the Kiwis’ greatest ever series win away from home, hailed as such by their Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Acknowledging the enormity of the historic series loss, Indian captain Rohit Sharma described it as a ‘low point’ of his cricketing career, something which he admitted is going to hurt for a long time.

The 3-0 Test series loss also meant that India lost their top spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 table, slipping to 58.33 percentage points, behind new table topper Australia’s 62.50.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy looms
There is no time to lose as India embark on a highly challenging tour of Australia in just a couple of weeks. The five-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins November 22 in Perth.

Chief coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma have their task cut out. The team needs to practice hard and concentrate on rectifying the mistakes identified. Most importantly, they ought to put the embarrassing loss behind them and lift their game and morale to standards they have defined over the past few years.

Having suffered two consecutive series losses at home against India, the Aussies are known to be preparing hard to extract revenge. India on their part should go into the series with a winning mindset. Losing the series is not an option if they are to remain in contention for entering their third successive WTC final. The third edition of WTC final is scheduled to be played in Lord’s, London, from June 11 to 15 next year.

Having massively underperformed in the longest format of the game in the recent past, more noticeably in the latest series against New Zealand, it is high time for top guns Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to prove on the ground that they can still provide solidity at the top of the order and inspire the highly talented younger lot to consolidate the innings.

In the three Tests against the Kiwis, Rohit has scored just 94 runs, with a highest score of 52 in the second innings of the first Test in Bengaluru. In Tests at home this season, he has managed 133 runs in 10 innings at an abysmal average of 13.30. Kohli has scored 192 runs with one fifty (innings of 70 runs) in 10 innings at a dismal average of 21.33.

This despite the hosts getting tailor-made pitches prepared apparently with the aim of making them work to their advantage.

For the records
This is the first-time ever New Zealand have won three Tests in a series, home or away, and first time ever they have won three successive away Tests

They became the fourth side to whitewash India in a series of three-plus Tests, away or at home, after England (4 times), Australia (3) and West Indies (1)

Before the Mumbai Test, India had already lost a home Test series for the first time since 2012. But the defeat in Mumbai made things go from bad to worse with the first ever home Test Series whitewash in a series of three of more matches

India have played 294 Tests at home, starting from the first home Test appearance at the Bombay Gymkhana Ground, and their 58th defeat came against New Zealand, when the visitors won the third Test match

The only other instance of India being whitewashed at home in a series comprising at least two games was against South Africa, which the Proteas won 2-0 in 2000

Cricket/sports statistician Mohandas Menon posted on his X account that India has been blanked 3-0 at home twice before by West Indies but both times the Test series were of higher number of matches – five Tests in 1958/59 and six Tests in 1983/84

He shared that most Test wickets at Wankhede Stadium by a Mumbai-born bowler have been 25 by New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel and 17 by Ravi Shastri. The 36 years old Kiwi left-arm spinner was also born in Mumbai, before his family migrated to New Zealand when he was very young

He also shared that the most Test wickets at an Indian venue by visiting bowlers have been 25 by Ajaz Patel of New Zealand (at Wankhede), 22 by Ian Botham of England (at Wankhede), and 18 by Richie Benaud of Australia (at Kolkata)

Ajaz’s fingers spin magic in birthplace Mumbai
Born in Mumbai, 36 years old Ajaz Patel appears to take naturally to the Wankhede Stadium in the city of his birth. His fingers have spun magic here. In December 2021, Ajaz had made headlines by becoming just the third bowler in Test history to take all ten wickets in a single innings. He finished with a match haul of 14 wickets for 225 runs, setting a record for the best figures by a visiting bowler in India.

His six for 57 bowling analysis in the second Indian innings on the third day of the just concluded Mumbai Test match for a match haul of 11 wickets, was, however, apparently sweeter than the Perfect 10 he achieved here three years ago since this one emerged as a winning performance for his team in a historic moment.

Another day, another Indian collapse
Chasing a paltry 147 for a consolation win on a tricky spinning wicket, the Indian batting line-up collapsed once again on the third day of the third and final Test match against New Zealand with the sole exception of wicketkeeper batsman Rishab Pant, who displayed remarkable resilience against the rampaging spin duo of Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips and unleashed a range of his trademark shots.

The figures shared by statistician Mohandas Menon on his X account say it all.

Highest run-getters for India in the second innings at Mumbai

64 – Rishab Pant
12 – Washington Sundar
12 – Byes
11 – Rohit Sharma