Mumbai, Nov 3: The fortress had been breached already. On Sunday, it just crumbled to the ground with the Indian dressing room sitting stone-faced, trying to process a fall so spectacular that nobody saw it coming.
For the first time in their Test history, which goes back to 1933, the ‘Tigers’ at home had been whitewashed in a series of three or more games.
The humiliation was inflicted by New Zealand, a side that landed here after being thrashed 0-2 by a Sri Lankan team that is in transition. The Black Caps were also without their biggest batting star Kane Williamson, thanks to injury.
Yet, it was a full-strength India that looked confused and short of preparation throughout a rubber they were expected to win and win comfortably at that.
The 25-run loss in the third Test in front of a buzzing Wankhede crowd, that just a few months ago feted a T20 world champion Indian side, was a stunning reminder of how fortunes swing wildly in sport.
Having already conceded the series 0-2, the Indians should have been able to pull one back. It wasn’t an unfair expectation, the chase was a mere 147 runs but it was on a track that looked like a minefield to the entire home line-up except Rishabh Pant (64).
On Sunday, all Pant needed or wanted was for someone to hang in there. Nobody seemed capable.
From Virat Kohli to skipper Rohit Sharma to Shubman Gill to Sarfaraz Khan, none looked to have learnt their lessons.
Five key wickets were lost for a mere 16 runs at the start of an embarrassing collapse with the Jogeshwari’s very own Ajaz Patel making them dance to his tunes for a haul of 11 wickets in the match.
The left-arm wpinner now has a staggering 25 Test wickets at the Wankhede in just two matches, making him the most successful overseas bowler at the venue after the great Ian Botham (22).
“Something like this will be a very low point of my career and I take full responsibility for it. With the bat, I was not good enough,” a desolate Rohit admitted in the post-match press conference struggling to explain clearly just what has gone so wrong with this team.
Coach Gautam Gambhir, who has remained bullish up until now, will certainly have a few questions to answer going forward if the tide does not turn dramatically in Australia, starting November 22.
With this truly humbling result, the Indians were thrown off the top position in the World Test Championship points table. A spot in the final next summer, which once seemed quite certain, will now have to be fought for and that too quite vigorously.
It is the first time that an Indian team has been whitewashed in a three-match series. The last time India suffered a humiliation of this scale was more than two decades ago in 2000 when it lost 0-2 to South Africa.
Interestingly, a World Cup-winning stalwart in Kapil Dev was in charge of the team as head coach even at that time. That result had ended the great Sachin Tendulkar’s run as captain of the team and Kapil’s tenure as coach.
What happens after the current loss will be eagerly watched. (PTI)
