Indus Valley Times

MUMBAI, NOV 3 : Go high or go broke. It seems to be the theme of Indian cricket at the moment. It looks spectacular when things go your way — as it did in Kanpur. But when it doesn’t, it looked exactly like what happened on the hot Sunday morning at the Wankhede Stadium. Chasing 147, India were bundled out for 121 and lost the match by 25 runs and series 0-3. A clean sweep at home for the first time since 1999-2000. Losing all three matches of a Test series at home  for the first time ever.

Now, batting on this pitch was always going to be tricky and it was not going to be easy. However, they pushed the panic button and crumbled, once again, getting reduced to 29/5 in 7.1 overs. Scratch that, India pulled themselves down to that with Sharma leading the way.

The captain, who had been in a poor form since the home season began in Chennai, continued to do what he had been trying. He tried to take everything that came his way. Whether it was charging at Matt Henry, who had been extracting extra bounce off the surface and dismissed Sharma in the first innings, or going for the sweep against Ajax Patel, Sharma seemed like he was in a hurry. The first mis-timed pull cleared mid-on and got him a boundary, but the second one found Glenn Phillips at mid-wicket. Another failure for Sharma, and it was just the beginning.

Shubman Gill had a brain fade in the next over, leaving an arm ball from Patel that crashed into the stumps. Viral Kohli edged one that turned to first slip, extending his lean patch since coming back to the Test team in September. Yashasvi Jaiswal was soon trapped on pads by an arm ball from Phillips and India were four down for just 28 on board.

At this point, it looked like there was a completion for the worst dismissal between Sharma and Gill, but then Sarfaraz Khan happened. Trying to take on Patel with a hard sweep seeing a low full toss, Khan hit it straight into the hands of square-leg fielder. Half the side back in the pavilion with 29 runs on board in just 7.1 overs. To put it into context, India have not lost their first five wickets in less than 50 balls before in this century.

Rishab Pant speaks to umpires Michael Gough, center, and Richard Illingworth after his dismissal during the third day of the third cricket test match between India and New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai.

Putting your foot down and grinding it out was not going to work on this surface and they had to take risks. But they had to be calculative as Rishabh Pant and Gill were in the first innings and Will Young has been in both. However, what India’s top-order did had little to do with it. They fell flat on their face, once again, leaving it to Pant to pull off a miracle.

The keeper-batter, since coming back, has picked up from he left two years ago. This innings was going to be no different. Having watched two collapses in this match already. Pant went into his zone. Anything he had a chance at, Pant would pick the field and go for his shots. So much so that his counterattack left Patel reeling. His lines and lengths were thrown off and wasn’t able to consistently hit the same line and length.

First with Ravindra Jadeja and then with Washington Sundar, Pant built partnerships and rescued India yet again, taking them past 100. Another fifty, his third since September along with a hundred, They needed less than 40 runs and probably had two of their best middle-order bats this series who looked set to take India home.

And then, something happened. Pant tried to work Patel down the leg, but in the process the ball lobbed off the pad to the keeper. Black Caps reviewed, and it seemed like the bat was bruising the pads right about the time he came in contact with the ball, but there was no spike as the ball deflected. The third umpire, Paul Reiffel, overturned the on-field decision much to the displeasure of Pant and the packed Wankhede crowd. The India (64) took the long walk back, possibly the slowest one of his career.

New Zealand believed. They were on the cusp of doing something no one ever has — clean sweep India in a home Test series that had three matches or more.

With Patel and Phillips hitting the right lengths and not trying anything extra, R Ashwin and Washington had to lot of play and misses. Ashwin eventually gave in and went for a reverse sweep only to be caught by the keeper off Phillips. The all-rounder cleaned up Akash Deep on the very next ball. India nine down, needing 26 to win. It really was going to be a miracle for them to chase it with Washington and Mohammed Siraj in the middle.

In the end, all it took was two balls as Patel cleaned up Washington and India to hand New Zealand a 3-0 defeat. A loss that no one saw coming three weeks ago. A series that will be etched in the memories for a very very long time.

Rishab Pant speaks to umpires Michael Gough, center, and Richard Illingworth after his dismissal during the third day of the third cricket test match between India and New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai.

-PTI