IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: Mitchell Santner spins Kiwis to maiden Test series victory in India
Mitchell Santner helped NZ win first Test series in India (Source: BCCI)
New Zealand beat India by 113runs in the second Test in Pune on Saturday (Oct 26) to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series. This is New Zealand's first-ever Test victory against India in India with one match still left to play.
Chasing 359, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma soon on a team score of 34 runs. Yashasvi Jasiwal (77) and Shubman Gill (23) then took India to lunch on day 3 without any further loss of wickets and 81 on the board. The duo added 62 runs for the second wicket before Mitchell Santner took out Gill post-lunch.
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India lost five more wickets in the second session with three of them taken by Santner apart from a run out while Glenn Phillips took one as well. India headed to tea on third day at 178/7 with Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin on the crease.
The spin duo added 39 runs for the eighth wicket before Santner took out Ashwin for his 13th wicket of the match.
Jadeja delayed the inevitable for a bit with his innings of 42runs but India were eventually bowled out for 245runs.
Earlier, New Zealand resumed their second innings from the overnight score of 195/5 and were dismissed in the first session itself for a total of 255.
India's first innings failure in Pune came back to haunt them as they chased more than 350 on a spinning and bouncing pitch. India had scored 156 runs in the first innings in reply to New Zealand's 259 – conceding a hefty 103-run lead which proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Indian batters failed to play Santner well and the spinner ended up taking the second best match-wicket haul by a foreign spinner in India. He took a five-wicket haul in both innings – the second foreign bowler only apart from Steve O'Keefe in 2017 for Australia.
New Zealand had also beaten India in the first Test in Bengaluru despite first day being washed out due to rain for their first Test victory in the country since 1988.
The third and final Test of the series will be played in Mumbai from Friday (Nov 1).
