India vs New Zealand: Third-worst batting average, first whitewash under Virat Kohli - Numbers reveal India’s struggle
This was the first time since the tour of New Zealand in 2002-03 when no Indian batsman could score a century in a series.
India lost the 2nd Test match in Christchurch in under eight sessions - on a green pitch, the batsmen failed to stand up and show their mettle and were blown away by a relentless New Zealand bowling attack. Such was the mediocrity of the batting that the side could cross 200 only once in four innings and captain Virat Kohli rightly pointed out that the batsmen’s inability to back their bowlers cost the side dear.
New Zealand has always been a slippery slope for the Indian team, the batsmen tend to find themselves in a muddle on the green tracks here and once again, the side failed to live up to its billing of the number 1 Test side.
In this series, India averaged 18.05 with the bat per wicket and this is their third-worst in any Test series. Now, the other two series numbers are also against New Zealand - 13.37 in New Zealand in 2002-03, and 16.61 when New Zealand came visiting in 1969-70.
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Mayank Agarwal, who scored 58 runs in the second innings in the first Test, was the highest scorer for India in the series. This might be a starling number but this is lowest highest score in a series of two or more matches for India in the history of Test matches played by them. This was the first time since the tour of New Zealand in 2002-03 when no Indian batsman could score a century in a series.
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India were blanked by a ruthless New Zealand and this was their first such series result since the whitewash inflicted on them by England and Australia in 2011. Hence, this is the first time, India have been whitewashed in Tests under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.
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“It was a matter of not having enough intent in the first game, and not closing out here. We didn’t bowl in the right areas for long enough. They created a lot of pressure. It was a combination of us not executing well enough and New Zealand sticking to their plans. The batsmen didn’t do enough for the bowlers to try and attack,” Indian captain Virat Kohli said after the match.
