India defeated New Zealand by 321 runs to win the series 3-0 at Holkar Stadium, Indore finished just a few minutes ago.
With this win, India regains the number 1 position in test matches and received the ICC test championship mace.
Here we look at the five turning points.
- Gautam Gambhir’s 50
Gautam Gambhir was injured on day 3. He came to the crease today after the fall of Murali Vijay wicket. At that time, India were 34 for 1. Gambhir was not out on 6. After coming to the crease he played some wonderful strokes off the spinners and pacers. It was an excellent knock by Gambhir after coming back into the Indian team. He completed his half-century off 54 balls. After completing he was dismissed playing a big stroke.
- Pujara’s brilliant century
Pujara looked in brilliant touch with excellent strokes versus the spinners and pacers both alike. In the first hour, he took time and after that, he smashed the bowlers to all parts of the ground. He completed his half-century off 96 balls. He was not out on 50 at lunch. After lunch, he made sure that he scored quick runs and completed his century off 51 balls. He remained not out on 101. India declared their innings on 216 for 3 giving a target of 475 to New Zealand. In the last 2 test matches, he scored 3 half centuries and could not convert half centuries into big ones.
- Ashwin’s 7 wickets
Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for India in today’s play. Ashwin was special with his flight and guile. He took the wicket of Williamson for the fourth time in the series. After that, he picked Taylor, Ronchi with good deliveries. Despite going for runs he continued to bowl brilliantly. He picked the wickets of Santer, Patel, Henry and finally finished with the wicket of Boult. He bowled 13.5 overs giving away 59 runs and picked 7 wickets. In total, he picked 13 wickets in the match which decimated the New Zealand batting line-up.
- Great Support by other Indian bowlers
Apart from Ashwin, the other Indian bowlers did a fantastic job. Umesh Yadav started with the wicket of Tom Latham. Jadeja also bowled well taking 2 important wickets of Neesham and Guptil. Mohammad Shami bowled well but could not pick any wickets in this innings. None of New Zealand batsmen were able to play the Indian spinners well which led to a 3-0 thumping of the Kiwis.
- New Zealand batsmen struggled
The New Zealand batsmen continue to struggle against the Indian bowlers especially the spinners. Ashwin and Jadeja picked 9 wickets among each other. The top scorer for New Zealand in the second innings was Taylor who scored 32 runs in 25 balls. All the New Zealand batsmen played big shots and were dismissed. Williamson, Guptill, Santer tried to play well but could not tackle the Indian spinners. BJ Watling remained not out on 23. The tailenders could not contribute to the team’s cause.