*Official* New Zealand tour of India 2024

[SillyCowCorner1]

We've got to keep trying with them my man! My daughter watches with me, although yeah it is a bit slow for her. But she loves it when Dad goes irrationally crazy over a wicket.

Ha ha, I am certain that your enthusiasm will be contagious...

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

This is awesome. And I agree, as **** as we've always been, we've maintained a hunger for Test cricket.

And this was Test cricket, showcasing why it ALWAYS has to be the thing. This was as absorbing as a contest can ever be in our sport. You could point to 55 different turning points, heroes/villains, ebbs and flows, you can argue it (and we do ) about who won, lost etc. Contrast that to T20, which is 'which team wackedy doo-ed it better'. I won't ever listen to the Test cricket is dead crowd anymore, because the history and depth of this game will ensure it lives on. The general NZ public - who to be fair, are pretty clued up on Tests - know we had won 2 Tests in India in our history, won 3 in a month, and are the first team to ever whitewash India in India. First to win in 12 series. That means something. T20 will never replicate that.

Even being on here, it's just fun. People are debating fields, batting approaches, DRS decisions, captaincy, selection. bowling changes, there's so much going on. Massively enjoyable month.

Test cricket is passed down from generation to generation, it's the fruit and vegetables of cricket, T20 is junk food, too much of it leads to the premature decay of ones cricket as a whole. No cricketer can truly be great without mastering cricket's greatest challenge. Besides, there is no other format that can link performances to those that played a century ago, to carry that legacy should be an honour.

 

[honestbharani]

First to win in 12 series.

18 actually. Nah, 19.

 

[Skyliner]

 

[hendrix]

Cute

 

[Bahnz]

Rankings for NZ

Latham 6 - one innings aside this wasn't a great series for Tom with the bat, but that one innings sealed the deal. Solid captaincy.
Conway 7 - looked awful at times, but road his luck and found some fortune and form
Young 10 - people who didn't see this series will look at Young's returns and wonder what all the fuss was about. But Young made sure India were never able to put NZ on the Backfoot with the new ball and played with immense concentration and skill. No notes.
Rachin 9 - bit of a series of 2 halves runs wise, but that first test hundred and 2nd test 70 showcased Rachin's unprecedented talent. Disastrous dismissal in his final innings but he'll learn from it.
Mitchell 7 -was shaping up to be a lean series for Daz, but his efforts in this game - achieved through what appeared to be immense suffering in the heat - showed once again what a class act he is.
Blundell 4 - the one blot on an otherwise faultless ledger. Fragile with the bat and gloves. Still provided some important runs at Pune and kept brilliantly in nightmarishy difficult conditions yesterday.
Phillips 8 - looks close to being a genuine spin bowling all-rounder. His counterpunch yesterday evening was the difference between 3-0 and 2-1.
Henry 9 - got the ball rolling with a classic Henry greentop mugging and then bowled tightly and with success here. Starting to look like one of the best quicks in the world.
Southee 7 - still looks cooked with the ball but did enough to support his fellow bowlers in this series. Played the best innings of his career to sllam the door shut on India at Bengaluru.
Santner 10 - the best NZ spin bowling I've seen.
Ajaz 8 - bowled fairly poorly on a surface that wasn't offering as much from his end at Pune, but made up for it with the best performance of his career here. Yes he was better than when he took all 10 in 2021.
Will O'Rourke 8 - helped break the series wide open with his 2 new ball bursts in the first test. Didn't have a lot to do after that but looked tidy.

 

[nightprowler10]

Santner 10 - the best NZ spin bowling I've seen.

Probably deserves a 12.

 

[trundler]

4 is really generous for (B)lund(ell)

 

[jcas0167]

I thought this was quite a poignant moment of Southee consoling Kohli. These two played against each other in the under 19 World Cup semi final in 2008. Williamson captained NZ, Southee was player of the tournament and Kohli was winning captain. May be the last series they play against each other.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Pretty cool that everyone* made some important contribution during the series

*except Blundell lmao

nah Blundell had that 41 in the second test

 

[NZTailender]

Young will make way. Sad, but you can't ask Latham or Conway to open and keep. Before this test I would've said there was a case for replacing Mitchell with Young at 5, but Daz has had a truly brilliant game with the bat and in the field. Sucks for Young but none of us will ever forget his contribution in this series, and odds are injuries will mean he gets another game before too long.

Conway
Ravindra
Williamson
Young
Mitchell
Phillips
Latham+*
Santner (?)
Henry
Sears
O'Rourke

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Cricinfo put up a stat saying that roughly a quarter of balls Ashwin and Jadeja bowled conceded a single or two this series - this obviously being way way higher than what we'd come to expect from them (this is what I was referring to more generally when I said the bowling had underperformed). A large part of that is the crap fields Rohit set at times and also scoreboard pressure but they're highly experienced cricketers who have actually had to defend small totals regularly in the past few years, so the most important factor in that respect is still just plain old accuracy: they were just mildly off, not in terms of bowling lots of long hops, but just not quite as precise and consistent as we'd come to expect, which allowed NZ to milk singles around the ground (which is obviously very difficult to set a field to as captain) and made NZ's life so much easier than I was expecting.

I think a lot of this was down to NZ actually having good batting plans. Every batsman had sat down with a coach and has 2 or 3 clear boundary options and 2 or 3 ways to get off strike to good balls. We weren't sitting ducks waiting for the long hop that never comes like we usually are.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Conway
Ravindra
Williamson
Young
Mitchell
Phillips
Latham+*
Santner (?)
Henry
Sears
O'Rourke

If the pitch is green at Hagley, Smith for Santner. Also, will Sears be fit?

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Now just imagine this same NZ team was steam rolled by us on similar wickets. What was the difference?

Batsmen were patient. Blocked the ball plenty of time, and let the heat take toll on the visitors. Just like English and Kiwis know when the ball swings and when not SC sides also should know how to press the advantage. Indian batsmen never did this. Infact if Pujara was playing, India may have won all three matches by just occupying the crease.

Honestly absolutely on the money.

I subscribe to theory that when you're the better side, you should look to reduce variance. This usually means playing low-risk cricket and letting the skill differential show. When you know you have big weaknesses then it makes sense to roll the dice a bit (e.g. us with the reverse sweeps). India have been playing high variance cricket lately and it doesn't suit them.

 

[NZTailender]

If the pitch is green at Hagley, Smith for Santner. Also, will Sears be fit?

Smith for Santner makes sense, or for Sears

Still think we need to develop spinners by playing them on surfaces that aren't dustbowls ala Lyon.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Rankings for NZ

Latham 6 - one innings aside this wasn't a great series for Tom with the bat, but that one innings sealed the deal. Solid captaincy.
Conway 7 - looked awful at times, but road his luck and found some fortune and form
Young 10 - people who didn't see this series will look at Young's returns and wonder what all the fuss was about. But Young made sure India were never able to put NZ on the Backfoot with the new ball and played with immense concentration and skill. No notes.
Rachin 9 - bit of a series of 2 halves runs wise, but that first test hundred and 2nd test 70 showcased Rachin's unprecedented talent. Disastrous dismissal in his final innings but he'll learn from it.
Mitchell 7 -was shaping up to be a lean series for Daz, but his efforts in this game - achieved through what appeared to be immense suffering in the heat - showed once again what a class act he is.
Blundell 4 - the one blot on an otherwise faultless ledger. Fragile with the bat and gloves. Still provided some important runs at Pune and kept brilliantly in nightmarishy difficult conditions yesterday.
Phillips 8 - looks close to being a genuine spin bowling all-rounder. His counterpunch yesterday evening was the difference between 3-0 and 2-1.
Henry 9 - got the ball rolling with a classic Henry greentop mugging and then bowled tightly and with success here. Starting to look like one of the best quicks in the world.
Southee 7 - still looks cooked with the ball but did enough to support his fellow bowlers in this series. Played the best innings of his career to sllam the door shut on India at Bengaluru.
Santner 10 - the best NZ spin bowling I've seen.
Ajaz 8 - bowled fairly poorly on a surface that wasn't offering as much from his end at Pune, but made up for it with the best performance of his career here. Yes he was better than when he took all 10 in 2021.
Will O'Rourke 8 - helped break the series wide open with his 2 new ball bursts in the first test. Didn't have a lot to do after that but looked tidy.

Sodhi? Slow in the field and did little with the bat. Bowling was better than figures suggest: 7 overs, 1 for 36 and got the key 1st innings wicket of Pant. 6?

 

[SteveNZ]

18 actually. Nah, 19.

Sorry, that was meant to be 12 years.

 

[hendrix]

I've been trying to put my finger on what exactly NZ did in this series. Because I really don't think it was a case of India playing terrible cricket. I mean, at times they did, but mostly they've played how they usually play.

This Tom Latham quote has the morsel for me:

"We've been a little bit more aggressive with the bat, tried to be a little bit more proactive, and again, with the ball, we've tried to keep things simple, understand how India play a little bit, and just try to do our best. The guys have chipped in at different times, which has been the most important thing, and really happy to be standing here in this position."

I think that kinda nails it.

Not many teams can really humble themselves to the point of playing "how India plays". McCullum et al as well as the Australians all talk about "playing our natural game" and "back yourself" etc.

It takes true modesty to remove the ego and actually play the way the other team plays.

e.g. taking off your big fast bowler after 1 over
e.g. bowling your spinners in long, unbroken spells across sessions
e.g. adopting in-out fields when they're appropriate
e.g. bowling your part timers ahead of your specialists if they're the right person for the job.

 

[SteveNZ]

Now just imagine this same NZ team was steam rolled by us on similar wickets. What was the difference?

Batsmen were patient. Blocked the ball plenty of time, and let the heat take toll on the visitors. Just like English and Kiwis know when the ball swings and when not SC sides also should know how to press the advantage. Indian batsmen never did this. Infact if Pujara was playing, India may have won all three matches by just occupying the crease.

Not end of career Pujara, but I agree wholeheartedly with this. An opener or #3 who was prepared and able to bat time would have made a massive difference to this side. The balance of their top 6 is all out of wack. The only guy who seemingly wants to play proper innings' is Kohli, and he's in an awful run of form. If I was an Indian fan, I'd be filthiest at Rohit. His bookend shots in this series were of a guy who wasn't prepared to lead - only prepared to dominate if possible and if not, to slog to something significant. Pant is who he is, but the rest have some significant soul searching before Australia - if they don't fancy it down there, as they didn't this month, they'll be cooked.

Every single guy in our top 7 played a role. Latham played the biggest innings of the series, the 86 with a historic result in the balance. Conway is in horrible nick but somehow eked out 227 runs at 38s against Bumrah. Young had his finest moments in Test cricket and worked as hard as you'll ever see someone work. Rachin had his moment of glory in the 1st Test, Mitchell contributed here at a vital time, Blundell's 41 was needed at Pune as was Glenn's 48*. And to top it all off, we got a top class innings out of Timothy bloody Southee. We weren't always full of skill and tactical nous, but we did fight the whole way in tough conditions.

 

[SteveNZ]

I've been trying to put my finger on what exactly NZ did in this series. Because I really don't think it was a case of India playing terrible cricket. I mean, at times they did, but mostly they've played how they usually play.

This Tom Latham quote has the morsel for me:


I think that kinda nails it.

Not many teams can really humble themselves to the point of playing "how India plays". McCullum et al as well as the Australians all talk about "playing our natural game" and "back yourself" etc.

It takes true modesty to remove the ego and actually play the way the other team plays.

e.g. taking off your big fast bowler after 1 over
e.g. bowling your spinners in long, unbroken spells across sessions
e.g. adopting in-out fields when they're appropriate
e.g. bowling your part timers ahead of your specialists if they're the right person for the job.

I agree. We were smart in that we played to India's weaknesses. We stayed in the game for long periods of time, made them have to earn it, when it was clear they wanted to boss the series from the first session.

We still had blunders across the series - feeding Sarfaraz in the first Test, I felt keeping GP on for way too long yesterday, failure to review the Pant lbw, our catching at times was rank, the lower order still wilted too quickly with set batsmen amongst them - and a good, motivated side would have pushed us a lot harder. But we won because India didn't care enough, and we were humble/consistent enough to break them.

It shouldn't be ignored that we got big breaks - India batting on a spicy one 1st up, winning both the remaining tosses - but we've gone to India and lost a bunch of tosses before, so be it.