IND VS NZ - 2nd Test, New Zealand tour of India, 2024

Dinesh Karthik will answer your questions after the 2nd Test vs. New Zealand! Send them in using #heyCB on X to be featured in our next episode.

Well, who saw that coming! Even after the defeat in Bengaluru, India were still the favourites for this game as the pitch was nothing like the one at Chinnaswamy. It was a "typical Indian wicket" in the words of Gautam Gambhir. But New Zealand rose to the challenge in some style! Mitchell Santner, the Test bowler, where have you been? Brought in on a turner, he managed to outbowl the Indian attack and ended up with 13 wickets in the match. So this result shakes up the permutations and combinations in the World Test Championship. One more Test to go at Wankhede, and New Zealand probably won't mind the conditions there either. For now, though, they can soak in the enormity of what they've achieved, bringing down an Indian behemoth in their own backyard. That's all we have from here. This is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Vinod and Saurabh Shankar. Goodbye!

Let’s address the elephant in the room!!
Hidden somewhere underneath the glamor of a nigh perfect home record since 2012 is the inconvenient truth of a faltering, steadily depreciating batting unit. A batting unit that has been sheltered by a well oiled, experienced spin bowling unit and by freaks like Jaiswal and Pant who’ve defied cricket logic to stave them off defeats. It has taken a rather innocuous but extremely effective peck by the Kiwi to rattle this regal Indian elephant, and hopefully wake it up from a long hidden batting malaise. Everyone knew that a transition was coming soon enough with so many of the Indian players on the wrong side of 30, but maybe, just maybe that transition is already upon us…

Santner | Player of the Match: Not really (bowled differently in second innings?). Felt a little harder this time. Credit to India for the way they came out. We knew they might fire some shots and that was probably the best way on that wicket. Jaiswal played extremely well but we just tried to hang in there. Hopefully one had their name on it. Great feeling. My side's a bit sore. Might just be because of a spike in my workloads - 20-odd overs there in a row. I felt it a little bit early on in my spell. I guess in that kind of situation you just want to keep going for the team. Every time I got a wicket it felt a little better. Yeah it's a bit strange for me (long spells). Nice to contribute to the team. Winning a series over here is very tough as India have shown for a very long time. Obviously very pleasing for us. But we have another game in Mumbai in a few days time - we have to go again. Everytime you take wickets you feel confident. Kind of felt that way in this innings with a few wickets under the belt. Landing the ball in the same spot all the time with little changes in pace - that's what we try to do as a spin unit.

Latham | NZ captain: Really special feeling. Proud to be in this position. Whole team effort and a clear example of everyone pitching in when they needed to and everyone standing up at different times. When you come over here you want to compete and put your best foot forward. What we did last week, we played fantastically well. What we spoke during the week was making sure we stay level and stay where our feet are, and focus on this game. Putting runs on the board at the start was really important. Have to mention Mitch Santner. In that first innings, he was fantastic. Has been around the group a long time, and to finally get a break and bowl the way he has - credit has to go to him. I actually think we didn't play that badly in Sri Lanka. Obviously you look at the result - 2-0 down - but I thought we did a lot of good things. Coming here, it was about trying to stick to our basics and play the long game. Both surfaces have been different, we've needed to adapt and we've done that very well. The method we played with last night - to put ourselves on the front foot - was outstanding. Runs were the most important things out there, not necessarily time. The way GP played this morning was really important. We knew India were going to come out hot. Didn't realise they were going to come that hot, but we managed to get the breakthroughs when they were needed and it was a great middle session. Those last three wickets took an age but when Tim took that catch we were really happy.

Rohit | India captain: Disappointing. It's not what we expected. Got to give credit to NZ - they played better than us. We failed to capitalise on certain moments. We failed to respond to those challenges. And we sit here with that result today. Didn't think we batted well enough to get runs on the board. If you want to win Test matches you've got to take 20 wickets to win, yes, but batters have to put runs on the board as well. Didn't put enough runs on the board in the first innings. Then we were behind in the game - 100 runs lead to NZ. Was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd but we knew it was going to be challenging. We gave it our all. We came out thinking we can chase that target but the continuous pressure from both sides meant we were not able to respond to those challenges. When they started off, they were 200/3 and for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. Wasn't a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn't bat well enough. Things would've been slightly different had we got a bit closer in the first innings. We want to show up well at Wankhede and try and win that Test. Not thinking too far ahead. Important we focus on that next game. What better we can do as a unit.It's a collective failure. I'm not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers. It's the team that has failed to accept the challenge that was thrown at us. We will come out with better intent, better ideas and better methods at Wankhede.

Time for the presentations..

Most home defeats in a calendar year for India
Four in 1969 (3 vs Aus, 1 vs NZ)
Three in 1983 (3 vs WI)
Three in 2024 (2 vs NZ, 1 vs Eng)
Fourth defeat in 15 home Tests for Rohit Sharma as captain, same as Kapil Dev and Mohd Azharuddin (both in 20 Tests each) and only behind MAK Pataudi's nine (in 27 Tests).

Mitchell Santner - 13/157
Third best match figures for a NZ bowler
Third best match figures for any team vs India
Third best match figures by a visiting bowler in India

Visiting teams winning a Test series in India
England (Five times, last in 2012/13)
West Indies (Five times, last in 1983/84)
Australia (Four times, last in 2004/05)
Pakistan (1986/87)
South Africa (1999/00)
New Zealand (2024/25)
With the series defeat, India's record of 18 consecutive bilateral home series wins have come to an end - the longest such sequence for any team.

Glenn Phillips: Indescribable. For us to do it for the first time is indescribable. It has been very tough to compete with the Indian boys in their conditions. We tried to learn and adapt, and be a bit more positive in these conditions. For it to pay off like this feels amazing. (On getting used to Indian conditions because of IPL) It does get easy but you can never fully learn the conditions until you are here. At the end of the day, Mitch was bowling absolutely brilliantly and it was about holding the other end for us and let Santner do his thing. (On India’s batting) I think the intent the boys showed in the top seven was second to none. The way Jaiswal came out smashing it everywhere was amazing, it was not just about Ashwin and Jadeja’s partnership. (On where’s the party) It will be in the team room for us, the guys are all pretty stoked!

India have been left to reflect on a couple of disappointing Tests. They got the short end of the stick in Bengaluru, misreading conditions and opting to bat on a pitch which had plenty in it for the terrific seam attack of Matt Henry and co. And now they've been completely outplayed on a dry turner in Pune. Two completely different set of conditions, and New Zealand have conquered them both. The pitch in this second Test had plenty for the spinners, but India were off the mark with the ball with the exception of Washington Sundar. Ashwin and Jadeja were underwhelming, and it was Washington - a late inclusion in the squad - who stood out as he showcased his potential with a brilliant seven-fer on that opening day. The pattern wasn't too dissimilar with the ball for New Zealand either, with one man leading the show. Santner and Washington, both tall spinners, got a lot more out of the pitch. To add to that, Santner had his variations in pace and trajectory as well. Also, New Zealand's approach with the bat - playing a lot of sweeps and reverse-sweeps - didn't allow India to settle either. India, in contrast, didn't go to those shots too often.

Mitchell Santner, take a bow! The control with which he bowled on a dry and turning pitch here in Pune was delightful to watch. There was enough help in the pitch, and he used it to full effect with excellent variations in pace and trajectory without leaving that good length spot. He's such a good bowler in limited-overs formats, but his Test career has never really taken off. Had never even picked up a five-for before, and now he has two in a single game with a performance for the ages.

15:57 Local Time, 10:27 GMT, 15:57 IST: History made in Pune as New Zealand win a Test series in India for the first time ever. It's one of the biggest wins of the century against a team that had not lost at home since 2012. Not just that, India had won 18 consecutive series before this one, and were heavy favourites to win all the matches in their pursuit of a finals spot in the WTC. New Zealand, on the other hand, lost 0-2 in Sri Lanka very recently. They had a new captain in Tom Latham, and a relatively inexperienced lineup in the absence of Kane Williamson, with only Latham and Southee having over 30 Test caps. But against all odds, and against a champion team, they have pulled off something quite sensational, wrapping up the series with a match to spare. No wonder they are overjoyed as they get together in celebration. Indian players walk out for handshakes. This has been just incredible.

Ajaz Patel to Jadeja, out Caught by Southee!! And they have done it! Stunning win for New Zealand in Pune as they take the match and the series. India's unbeaten run at home comes to an end. Pin drop silence from the crowd. All you can hear is the whooping and cheering from the New Zealand players. Tossed up outside off, Jadeja dances down for the big shot, drags it to the left of long-on and Southee takes it calmly moving to his left. Jadeja c Southee b Ajaz Patel 42(84) [4s-2]

Ajaz Patel to Jadeja, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Ajaz Patel to Jadeja, 2 runs, good running from Jadeja who is aware to the situation. Length ball just outside off, he goes back to defend but it turns and bites sharply. Gets a thick inside edge past leg slip

Santner to Bumrah, no run, 93.3kph, length back and across fired in on leg, defended forward

Midwicket goes deeper

Santner to Bumrah, FOUR, Santner tosses it up again, goes wider outside off this time but Bumrah still makes good contact. Drags the slog-sweep through midwicket for four more