India completed another emphatic victory at the Eden Gardens, on the evening of day 4, by beating New Zealand by 178 runs. With the win, India clinched the three-match series and also went on to become the top-ranked ICC Test Team.
In what was a complete team performance, we take a look at the five most positive aspects that came out of this match for the Men in Blue:
#5 Saha proves his worth in this team
Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha has been around this Indian team for quite some time now. He got his deserved long-run in the team after Dhoni’s retirement from the red-ball cricket.
And he has established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet. While his wicket-keeping skills have never been in doubt, his batting has been cast under some doubtful clouds time and again. But he has gone ahead and made a statement with his two unbeaten fifties in the second test at his home ground.
In the first innings, he mostly batted with the tail as he dragged India past 300, and in the second innings, he shared a crucial partnership with Rohit Sharma after India lost early wickets and were in a precarious position.
His century in the Caribbean seems to have given him a real boost in confidence and after a string of starts that he couldn’t convert, he is making some vital contributions lower down the order. He completely deserved his Man of the Match award.
#4 Rohit Sharma’s Eden Gardens love-affair continues
Rohit Sharma and Eden Gardens share a special bond. The Mumbai batsman made his test debut here against the West Indies in 2013 and went on to score a magnificent 177 helping India win the match.
He scored a historic 264 against Sri Lanka, the highest runs by an ODI batsman in an innings, here. So when the second test match began, it was a given that Sharma will have an impact with the bat.
After failing to do so in the first innings, the 29-year-old stood up in the second innings and dragged his team out of some serious trouble. India were struggling at 43 for the loss of 4 wickets when he walked in, and along with captain Kohli, helped India stabilise. After the loss of Virat, he along with Saha, batted very sensibly, leaving the Kiwis to chase a mammoth total.
His knock of 82 included 9 boundaries and 2 sixes as he dominated the Kiwi attack while showing some commendable restraint on a track that was tricky to bat on.
This innings, coming after another crucial knock in the Kanpur Test, will certainly silence his critics for the time being. It is pleasing to see that the confidence shown by the management on him is finally paying off.
He will have been disappointed not to score a century, but surely, he’s become the latest addition in the series of Eden Gardens’ most loved sons along with the likes of Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Azharuddin, to name a few.
#3 Bhuvneshwar deserves a regular starting spot
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was brought into this Test match in the place of express bowler Umesh Yadav and Kumar, with his bowling, might just have managed to edge Umesh out of the team for good.
His five-for in the first innings was a delight for every cricket fan. It was pace bowling at its best on display, as Kumar bowled with immaculate control and discipline in line and length. He troubled the batsmen throughout, made them play at everything and did not gift any freebies.
He continued his good form in the second innings as he grabbed the wicket of first innings top-scorer Jeetan Patel and was unlucky not to add a few more wickets to his name.
Special mention for local boy Mohammad Shami who grabbed three wickets of his own in both innings as he ran in tirelessly throughout the day troubling players with serious pace and bounce.
Bhuvi’s contribution with the bat was also an important factor, as he scored 23 runs, putting on a decent stand with Saha to set up this win for the home team.
He has made the most of the opportunities that he has been given post-injury and deserves a longer run in the playing XI.
#2 Spinners continue domination
It is, at this time, least surprising that the Indian spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja played a major role in the destruction of the Kiwi batting line-up in the second innings. Each picked a wicket apiece in the first innings and three wickets second time around as they continued their brilliant run of form, leading India to another series victory.
The Kiwi batsmen, apart from the impressive Tom Latham (74) and Luke Ronchi, to an extent, found it very hard to negotiate the spin stalwarts. It is a pleasure for Indian fans to see a duo this lethal since the days of Kumble-Bhajji.
It won’t be wrong to say that these two spinners along with some crucial contributions from Amit Mishra, when he has played, have been the backbone of the series of impressive performances by the Indian team, which has brought them to the summit of the ICC test team rankings.
#1 Kohli’s captaincy a crucial factor
Virat Kohli has taken to test match captaincy like a duck takes to water. He has been aggressive and positive, since he took over from the retired Dhoni. Indians under Kohli gave the Aussies a run for their money Down Under, have won a test series away to Sri Lanka and West Indies, and have defeated two of the finest test playing nations in South Africa and New Zealand at home.
The level of self-belief and confidence this man possesses seems to have rubbed off on the entire team.
He played an important counter-attacking knock of 45 in the second innings at Kolkata, helping India out of trouble. When the Indian team came out to field, the energy Kohli showed will certainly have pumped up his teammates as they put in a wonderful team performance.
The U-19 World Cup-winning captain brought the crowd into the game, urged them to get behind their team and the Eden Gardens crowd obliged. This surely seemed to have fired up the entire team as his bowlers ran through the Kiwi batters to achieve another series victory.
The way he rotated his bowlers, the field placements, the way he did not let the game drift each time there was a partnership developing, gives a lot of happiness to the Indian fans and hope for the future. The one thing that MSD was constantly criticised for throughout his tenure as Test captain was that he let games drift away.
Kohli, in his short stint at the helm, has gone on to correct that aspect and the results have been speaking for themselves.
No doubts India have the right person in-charge to lead them back to the top of test cricket.
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