IND vs NZ: India has faced a test series defeat after a long span of 12 years since their last series defeat at home in the longest format of the game came when the current Indian coach was a player for the Indian side.
India enjoyed a stint of wins in the longest format even under the reign of the World Test Championship since Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma took over as the skipper. However, these to-back losses in the red-ball format, at the Chinnaswamy and the MCA Ground at Pune, have had a huge impact over their WTC 2023-25 campaign.
As a result, the third might be the last chance for the Indian team to restore their lost form, as they look to get their momentum back before they set for their away tour to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The pitch at Pune, which was not an ideal pitch to bat on, faced some startling performances from either of the team’s spinners, Washington Sundar and Mitchell Santner, as the two spinners picked 11 and 13 wickets with the ball, respectively.
The Wankhede pitch is considered one of the oldest tracks to have featured test cricket. The pitch, which is known to be very aggressive, now has been promised to be a well-supportive track for both batters and bowlers.
Hence, this time around we can expect some help for the batters on Day 1 at least at Wankhede while the next few days can turn and come in handy for the spinners. Hence, the Indian batters can be expected to be relieved with some sort of batting form, especially for the two veterans.
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From New Zealand’s point of view, their most veteran player, Kane Williamson, has missed the first two games, though his team excelled even without him. Williamson hence wants to keep himself out for the third game as well, while he preps himself for the home series against Bazball, who would tour the Kiwi island.
