Mitchell Santner picked 13 wickets as New Zealand beat India by 113 runs in the second test Saturday, claiming its first test series win on Indian soil.
Following his 7-53 in the first Indian innings, Santner was once again wrecker-in-chief, picking up 6-104 in the second innings as New Zealand took an insurmountable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. It had won the first test in Bengaluru by eight wickets.
India hadn't lost a home test series since 2012, when it was beaten by England.
It was a second five-plus wicket haul for Santner in tests, coming in consecutive innings at Pune, as India was bowled out for 245 runs in 60.2 overs while chasing 359 runs for an unlikely win.
“Winning a series over here is very tough," said Santner, who was named player of the match. “I feel a little sore (with bowling unchanged from one end), but you have to keep going. Every time I got a wicket, it felt better. I just tried to land the ball in the same spot with little changes in pace.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the top scorer for India with 77 runs off 65 balls. But there wasn’t much else from India’s famed batting lineup — Ravindra Jadeja’s 42 was the second-best score on the day.
Ajaz Patel took 2-43, while Glenn Phillips picked 1-60.
Tom Latham’s squad joins a select club. Since 2000, India had previously lost only three test series on home soil — to South Africa (2000), Australia (2004-05) and England 12 years ago.
New Zealand has toured India since 1955 and had only managed to win two tests here prior to this series — in 1969 and 1988.
“We are proud to be in this position. It is a really special feeling and a whole team effort," Latham said. “Putting runs on the board at the start was really important. Santner was fantastic. We have had to adapt to different surfaces and we did that very well. The last two wickets took an age, but we were really happy when it happened.”
Earlier, in the morning session, New Zealand put up a tall ask for India and set 359 for victory.
It was bowled out for 255 runs in 69.4 overs in its second innings. Starting from overnight 198-5, the Black Caps lost quick wickets in the first hour of play.
Ravindra Jadeja got back into some form, picking up three wickets on day three, and he finished with 3-72 after going wicketless in the first innings.
Jaiswal then stroked a breezy 46 not out off 36 balls as India reached 81-1 at lunch. The opener was in an aggressive mood and had put on 34 runs for the first wicket with Rohit Sharma, who was out caught at short leg for eight.
Post lunch, Shubman Gill added 62 off 59 balls with Jaiswal for the second wicket. The duo played attacking cricket and India looked comfortable for a brief period.
Santner provided the breakthrough in the 16th over — Gill was caught at slip for 23.
There was another short partnership — 31 runs — between Jaiswal and Virat Kohli, before Santner dealt another crushing blow. Jaiswal was caught at slip in the 22nd over, after hitting nine fours and three sixes.
The turning point came immediately — again via Santner whose throw ran out Rishabh Pant for a duck. The writing was on the wall for India when Santner trapped Kohli lbw for 17 off 40 deliveries.
India slipped from 127-2 to 147-5 in 51 deliveries and then further to 167-7 as Santner ran through the batting card. It was his maiden 10-for in test cricket.
Jadeja once again resisted with runs late down the order, but it was too little to prevent a defeat for India on home soil.
“It is not what we expected," said Sharma, India’s skipper. “New Zealand played better than us. We failed to capitalize on certain moments and didn’t bat well enough to get runs on the board. You have to take 20 wickets to win a test, but batters have to put runs on the board.”
The third test begins in Mumbai on Friday.
