New Zealand Wins The Series: It is the same with cricket and winning a Test series in India is a big deal, you know. Just ask Tom Latham! He is now in the same company as legends Adam Gilchrist and Alastair Cook under which he is only the second captain to pull this off in the 21st century.
Beating such a strong team in their own backyard seriously is a milestone that’s gonna go down in the history books. Wow, and you could see the pride on Latham’s face after the third day in Pune.
Latham couldn’t help but make a huge grin and say, ‘I’m still kinda speechless.’ “It’s very much a super proud moment for us.” A week or so ago we had a series against Sri Lanka that didn’t go our way here and now we come here and play the way we normally do just feels great.
To win two Test matches here is something special! So first team to win a series here? A lot of Kiwi teams have tried and failed in the years past, 69 years and 13 series. “We should be really proud of that.”
They were really determined to push on even after what was a tough period in Sri Lanka. “I feel we came here wanting to make a statement and I think we did that in both matches.
” So in the first game our bowlers came in and did their thing, and in this one our batting was pretty good as well. The first couple of innings runs were key and it was good to see our bowlers do their thing over the last couple of days, he said.
Mitchell Santner took center stage, ending with match figures 13 for 157. New Zealand bowled and Latham was everywhere and really he was everywhere he wasn’t trying to save face, he really earned his praise.
“He did an amazing job. It’s not just wickets he took but you had to see the number of overs he bowled in succession, whether it be back to back or one after another. But Will [O’Rourke] just bowled one over with the new ball and Mitch did the rest.
Then how in the world can someone keep bowling that many overs and still be a threat? He was just taking wickets but I kept hoping to give him a break. Why not then, I asked myself, let him continue? ‘All the credit goes to him. He did what he had to do in this game.’
We also can’t ignore also how New Zealand battered the bat as well in the first innings. We wanted to put India under pressure from our batting point of view.” We didn’t play with as much attack as we typically do, and I think that surprised them a bit.
‘Latham feels they gave them a challenge, it was nice to be in a position where we were able to really challenge them.’
He also mentioned that their preparation had something to do with their success. Of course you can’t beat the experience of hard Test cricket. Obviously, playing in Sri Lanka helps you understand about these conditions but they’re different, so being there beforehand, got us a taste about how we play in these conditions.
The spin was both heavy in both series so we had to start to adapt from there and succeed. We spent a lot of time getting ready for this tour. We play as guys that know what works for us here and we came here with a more attacking mindset and it definitely paid off.
Eventually it was Latham and his team who could keep their nerve and fight their best, even in their own backyard. It’s a matter of teamwork, preparation; and the Kiwis seem to have done their homework this time!
Aslo Read: Is Shami back to full fitness for Australia tour?
Cricket Tamasha Team is a bunch of people, who create and share match breakdowns, blogs, player features and news from the world of cricket. Genuine fans will appreciate our determination to keep fans both informed and entertained.