Six days after New Zealand gave immense joy to a country of over five million residents by winning the title in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, it was the turn of the Tom Latham-led Test team to bring more happiness with a 113-run win over India giving them their first-ever series win in the country.
After New Zealand bagged a historic triumph in Pune and grabbed an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, Latham was understandably jubilant.
“Really special feeling. Proud to be in this position. Whole team effort and a clear example of everyone pitching in. When you come over here you want to put your best foot forward. Putting runs on the board at the start was really important,” Latham said after the match ended.
The chief architect of New Zealand’s win was left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who took 7-53 in the first innings and rattled the Indian chase by picking 6-104 in a relentless and uninterrupted spell of 29 overs to finish with match figures of 13-157, the third-best match figures for a bowler from his country in Tests.
“Have to mention Mitch Santner. He was fantastic. Has been around the group a long time, and to finally get a break and bowl the way he has – credit to him. It was about trying to stick to our basics and play the long game,” he said. “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 terrific. The way Glenn Phillips played this morning was really important,” added Latham.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was blazing in his 65-ball 77 to raise hopes for a miraculous Indian win, but New Zealand held their calm to conjure up the unthinkable and give the hosts their first series loss at home since December 2012.
“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 in the middle session. Those last two wickets took an age but when Tim took that catch we were really happy,” concluded Latham.
