3rd Test: Down 0-2, India play for pride, WTC points; New Zealand aim for clean sweep

Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS) With both their reputation and stellar home record shattered by a New Zealand side that has won two Test matches in India for the first time in decades, Rohit Sharma's side will step into the Wankhede Stadium on Friday for the third and final Test of the series hoping to restore some pride.

A victory at Wankhede will help them improve their tally in the World Test Championship standings and more importantly will boost their confidence ahead of a crucial and lengthy Test tour of Australia, in which India will play five Test matches after a long gap.

Getting whitewashing 3-0 by a New Zealand side that reached India after being swept aside 2-0 by Sri Lanka a few weeks back is something they will have to avoid at any cost.

India's home dominance has been dented by defeat in a series for the first time in 12 years, during which they went undefeated in 18 Tests. Rohit Sharma's captaincy will ill-afford not making a hat-trick of series wins against Australia. Two setbacks in a row will be a disaster in every sense and will entail a review of the team's recent tactics and use of personnel by the team management.

A victory in Wankhede will prove that the team is slowly getting on with head coach Gautam Gambhir's ultra-aggressive style in the middle and really adapting to it.

With these things in mind, Gambhir made it clear on Thursday that the team management is not considering resting any players and giving opportunities to players unused in the series an opportunity. Head coach Gambhir made it clear in the pre-match press conference that though all players are available for selection, he is not in favour of changing personnel as a lot is at stake for India.

"Absolutely not. I think we are not in a situation where we can think along those lines.

It's a very important test match for us. The World Test Championship is far away right now at the moment. It's a Test match which we are playing at home and we want to go out there and try and give our best and try and get the results in our favour," said Gambhir in response to a question by IANS.

"And even if we would have been 2-0 up, we still wouldn't have thought that way because Test cricket is something which people need to earn rather than just thinking of allowing them to be a Test cricketer. A test cap needs to be earned," Gambhir added.

With the coach being so emphatic in his assertion, Team India will definitely go full throttle in the third Test, which means a third match in a row for pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, another opportunity for senior batters like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, K.L Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who had struggled with a niggle in the previous match.

Though Bumrah was not seen bowling a lot in the nets on the last two days, Gambhir said that was because he wanted to preserve his energy considering the weather conditions in Mumbai.

Though Gambhir admitted that the team has to iron out their performance in all departments of the game and refused to blame any one of them for their downfall in the first two matches, poor batting is the reason why Rohit Sharma's side has landed in this predicament. The bowlers have done well in comparison with Washington Sundar claiming a 7-fer in the second Test.

With the batters making an abject surrender, India were bowled out for 46 in the first innings of the first Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and then managed only 156 in the first essay in the second match on a turning track at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune.

Though there have been some praise-worthy efforts by the batters -- Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant in particular who scored 150 and 99 respectively in the second innings of the first Test, and Kohli and Rohit Sharma scoring half-centuries in the same innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal showed his potential once again with a superb half-century in the second innings at Pune, but the collapses have become worrisome as India have lost 6-7 wickets for 50-odd runs twice.

At Wankhede, the side will be hoping to set those setbacks aside and come up with some good efforts to shift the pressure onto New Zealand. The team management is likely to opt for a rank turner for the third Test but the Wankhede pitch is known to provide some bounce and swing to the pacers early in the morning and that is where New Zealand would again like to hurt India.

The Black Caps had come into the series on a low after losing 2-0 to Sri Lanka in the preceding series but they have more than achieved their target in India where they have historically struggled. Before this series, they had only two wins in 36 Test matches in the country and winning two matches in a row is a magnificent achievement for Tom Latham's team. With regular skipper Kane Williamson continuing his rehabilitation at home, New Zealand have found heroes when they needed.

It was their pacers who set up the victory in the first Test with Matt Henry, Tim Southee and William O’Rourke harassing the Indian batters in both innings. In Pune, it was the turn of Mitchell Santner, who claimed 13 wickets in the Test to help New Zealand win the series.

On the batting front, Rachin Ravindra hammered a century in the first innings of the first Test to help them gain a big lead while in the second game in Pune, Ravindra struck a half-century in the first innings, Devon Conway and Tom Latham contributed vital half-centuries when it mattered.

At Wankhede, where Ajaz Patel became the third bowler ever to claim all 10 wickets in an innings on the Black Caps' last tour of India in 2021, New Zealand will be hoping that the left-arm spinner will come good once again. While Santner did the damage in Pune, New Zealand will be hoping that Patel will come good once again in the City where he was born.

That will make it an interesting Test to watch, especially with the result carrying so much for both teams.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.

New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Tim Southee, Will Young.

--IANS

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