IND vs NZ 2nd Test: Virat Kohli and Co. registered their biggest Test cricket win by cleaning the clock of New Zealand in the final match of their two-match Test series by a colossal 372-run margin. The margin is the highest ever victory figure for the team on their home turf.
India won by 372-runs on the fourth morning of the second Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, clinching the two-Test series 1-0. Opener Mayank Agarwal struck a brave 150 and aggressive 62, while the spinners picked up 16 wickets between them over the two innings.
Starting the day on 140 for five, the Black Caps’ goal of 540 seemed out of reach with five wickets in hand, but Jayant, who had struggled to find his rhythm on the third day’s evening, regained momentum and went to record his career-best performance of 14-4-49-4, despite not having played a Test match since 2017.
Jayant Yadav was the principal executioner on the fourth day of the Test as he struck four times in the first half-hour, removing Rachin Ravindra for 18, then plucking two more off successive deliveries in his next over to knock Kyle Jamieson and Tom Southee for ducks, before dismissing Will Somerville for one. Yadav registered his maiden Test cricket five-wicket haul in the game.
New Zealand was all out for 167 in 56.3 overs as spin specialist Ravichandran Ashwin (4/34) took advantage of a phenomenal reflex stumping by Wriddhiman Saha, while he completed his 300th wicket on Indian soil in the process.
Barring Ajaz Patel, who scripted history by registering his best bowling figures of 10 wickets in an inning, the Black Caps gave an insipid performance in the second game. Their performance can be gauged from the highest individual score registered. The leading runs for the visitors were Daryl Mitchell (60 off 92 balls) and Henry Nicholls (44 off 111 balls), who had a dismal scorecard in the Test.
Ajaz Patel’s 10 wickets in the first innings had restricted India to 325 runs, despite Mayank Agarwal’s 150. Patel continued to shine in the second innings, taking four more wickets to become the match’s leading wicket-taker. But his efforts were rendered futile, courtesy of a below-par batting performance by the visitors.
India declared their second innings on 276/7 after Mayank Agarwal added to his strong first-innings performance with a steady 62, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill both scored 47.
The hosts shut the tourists by bundling them for 62 runs in 28.1 overs and registered an emphatic victory in Mumbai.
IND vs NZ 2nd Test Brief Scores: India 325 (Agarwal 150, Axar 52, Ajaz 10-119) and 276 for 7 dec (Agarwal 62, Ajaz 4-106) beat New Zealand 62 (Ashwin 4-8, Siraj 3-19) and 167 (Mitchell 60, Nicholls 44, Ashwin 4-34, Jayant 4-49) by 372 runs
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