Mumbai: There was only one man standing between New Zealand and a 3-0 whitewash of India at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. That was the pocket dynamo Rishabh Pant. Pant swept and reverse swept, cut and pulled, cut spinners’ length by half, played with their plans on a turning pitch. For 90 minutes while he was there, the 19,831 home supporters inside the stadium had hope that India would chase down the 146-run fourth innings target.

Once Pant was gone to a contentious leg before decision, given after DRS was taken by New Zealand, in the 22nd over for 64 (57b, 9x4, 1x6), India’s hopes were extinguished. It took New Zealand only 7.3 more overs to wrap up the remaining three wickets to dismiss India for 121 and win by 25 runs, completing the first ever series sweep by a visiting side on Indian soil; in fact, a first for any side to have played more than a two-Test series in India.

It reflects a measure of India’s compounding batting woes that Pant, a born risk-taker, was the only one who could ring in shots and succeed, while the established batters led by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma never looked at home, here in Mumbai or for that matter in the entire series.

India’s loss in Mumbai came despite the home team managing a crucial 28-run first innings lead in a low-scoring thriller that lasted less than three days. To get to 146 on a pitch turning square, the hosts needed a 70-80 run partnership, as Shubman Gill had said the previous evening. India’s second highest score was the 12 scored by Washington Sundar, who was the last man out. Only three batters got to double figures.

Gill was dismissed for one run, paying the price for his error of judgement as he was bowled shouldering arms to a straighter one from Ajaz Patel. Several others too fell prey to the left-arm spinner’s nagging accuracy and guile. Backing up his 14-wicket haul from the previous Test he played here – that game in December 2021 included his innings 10-for – Ajaz bagged a 11-wicket haul this time. The Mumbai-born Kiwi clearly proved a thorn in India’s flesh on the land of his birth, taking over after India’s Pune tormentor Mitchell Santner did not play this game.

“I accept the fact that we were not good enough with the bat in the entire series. There were a lot of good things also that happened during the series with the bat. But yeah, the couple of innings of the first two Tests where we fell very, very short in the first innings, and then New Zealand were ahead in the game, that cost us those games.

“Even now, I thought 147 should have been chaseable. But we were just not good enough with the bat. We didn’t apply ourselves. There were a lot of mistakes that were made,” Rohit Sharma told reporters after the match.

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