WTC finals Day 6: New Zealand defeat India to become inaugural champions of Test cricket
New Zealand created history as they became the inaugural ICC
Test Championship defeating India on the reserve day at Ageas Bowl, Southampton
on Wednesday.
Starting on the overnight score of 64 for 2, India was dealt
with two huge blows as Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara could not contribute
much to the team’s cause dismissed by Kyle Jamieson. Rishabh Pant was given a reprieve
by Tim Southee at slips but did not change his style of play taking on the
Kiwis bowlers. On the other hand, Rahane looked solid hitting the bad balls
away for runs. Rahane was dismissed in an unfortunate manner caught down the leg.
Rahane and Pant added 37 runs for the 5th wicket. Jadeja and Pant
played with positive intent taking India to 130 for 5 at lunch.
After the lunch break, Neil Wagner troubled Jadeja and Pant
with bouncers. Jamieson did not give runs easily to both Indian batsmen. Wagner
finally broke through getting rid of Jadeja with a bouncer. Jadeja and Pant
added 33 runs for the 6th wicket. Soon after, Pant could not resist playing a rash stroke with a good running catch by Nicholls. Soon, Ashwin also was
dismissed by Trent Boult to leave India in big trouble. Mohammed Shami provided
some entertainment with three boundaries being caught at fly slips by Latham.
Southee dismissed Bumrah for 0 to bowl out India for 170 to set New Zealand's
target of 139 in 53 overs.
Chasing 139 runs to win, Tom Latham and Devon Conway started
cautiously against top quality bowling of Shami and Bumrah. New Zealand went
into the tea break at 19 for 0.
Devon Conway looked confident with his strokes. Ashwin was
bought into the attack early and troubled Latham. He eventually produced a
beauty to dismiss Latham stumped by Pant to end 33 runs opening partnership. India’s
dream dashed as Kane Williamson was given out by the umpire but on review, it
was overturned due to the ball missing leg stump. Ashwin dismissed dangerous Conway
with a good delivery leaving New Zealand in some trouble. The Indian bowlers
kept the pressure on Taylor and Kane Williamson with lots of maiden overs. Taylor
held his nerves and hit boundaries off Ashwin to release some pressure.
India’s fielding was not up to the mark as Pujara dropped a
simple chance to get rid of Taylor. Jadeja produced some good deliveries but
could sustain consistent pressure. Williamson reached his fifty off 86 balls. Ishant
Sharma did not complete his over due to injury. Bumrah also dropped a chance to
get rid of Williamson. Taylor hit the winning runs putting on unbeaten 96 runs
for the 3rd wicket.
New
Zealand 249 in 99.2 overs (Conway 54, Williamson 49, Shami 4/76, Ishant Sharma
3/48) and 140 for 2 in 45 overs (Williamson 52*, Taylor 47*, Ashwin 2/17) beat India 217 ( Rahane 49, Kohli 44, Jamieson 5/31) 170 in 73 overs (Pant 41, Rohit
Sharma 30, Southee 4/48, Boult 3/39) by 8 wickets.
For his
all-around contributions, Kyle Jamieson was awarded the man of the match award.
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