New Zealand have not become a bad dream for India when it comes to cricket. From beating India in crunch matches in the ICC events to beating them in bilateral series in recent years, India have suffered some embarrassment at their hands. Just like it happened on Sunday in the third ODI in Indore.
The Black Caps beat India by 41 runs and won their maiden ODI bilateral series win on Indian soil. New Zealand didn't have even 5-6 first-choice players, whereas India have almost their best possible squad. Despite that, India had to face the embarrassment, and under coach Gautam Gambhir, another unthinkable was registered. There were plenty of areas that India made mistakes in. Here we will talk about major reasons that made India suffer this humiliation at home.
IND vs NZ: 5 Major reasons that India suffered a humiliating series defeat
1. No support from top order
In all three games India lost early wickets as Rohit Sharma couldn't get going and got out playing a rash shot. Shreyas Iyer also played a wrong shot; it wasn't required, as Gill got a good delivery from Kyle Jamieson. Chasing such a big total, you need a good opening stand, which couldn't happen, and India suffered early blows. If one of the top five batters had stayed for a while, the result could have been different.
2. Poor captaincy
India had New Zealand under pressure with the ball and took a couple of early wickets. New Zealand were 58/3, but after that Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips added a massive 219-run partnership. It was because India didn't try to put them under pressure. Both batters took some time, and once they got set, they played freely.
Gill is a new captain, but his rotation of bowlers was poor. Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja were introduced late. These two are India's main spinners, who only bowled 6 overs each, whereas Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled 8 overs. In comparison, Jayden Lennox, who is the lone specialist spinner for New Zealand, took 2/42 and made the difference.
3. No partnership in the middle
Despite losing both openers for five runs, New Zealand had good partnerships in the middle, which helped them post a mammoth total of 337. But with the Indian batting unit, this was lacking. It looked like there was no coordination between the top-order batters, and they just kept getting out until Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana were guided by Virat Kohli. Lack of partnerships with the bat was the reason in this series that India lost.
4. Spin to win
India have always been dominant at home, and one prime reason was the Indian spinners. But in this series, this spin unit has been exposed. In three games, Indian spinners have taken only two wickets and conceded runs at a run rate of almost 8. The spinners that used to dominate at home are not even completing their full quota of ten overs. That shows that even the captain or management doesn't have trust in them.
5. Choices of Venues in the series
It might be a bit odd to say, but India's success mantra at home was largely because of preparing spin-friendly wickets where Indian spinners used to thrive. But all three pitches for this series were flat, and there was no help. It might be because India have 51-52 active cricket stadiums, and the BCCI wants to give a chance to host an international match to every stadium. But it has cost the momentum.
The Indian players themselves don't know about which pitch will play how because they are playing every game at a different venue. Unlike other cricketing nations, who have 6-8 major cricket venues and plan accordingly. Secondly, these wickets are like a lottery; if you win the toss, you have an edge. India should have prepared good bowling wickets, and they could have put the inexperienced New Zealand team under pressure.
