The Indian sorry story continues, will the team ever win???

Poor umpiring, dismal first innings performance or effective planning by opposition?? Why, how and when did India lose the 1st test against New Zealand. Get to know the insights of the first test with the CT Expert, Sarthak Mondal

New Zealand 503 and 105 beat India 202 and 366 by 40 runs (Player of the match: Brendon McCullum)

Test  cricket is all about winning small sessions and India failed to win them. In the match, that pumped all the adrenaline out of the body, it took some exciting cricket from the Kiwis to seal the deal. Some decisions by the umpire were controversial but given the quality of the game, the home side played over the last 4 days, holding their nerves and using their wits, it is fair to say that they deserved to win.

Let me remind you the last time India won an away test. It was on 23rd June 2011 against West Indies in Kingston when India won by 63 runs. The story of Great Indian struggle started there. They lost 4-0 in England, 4-0 in Australia, 1-0 in South Africa and are now trailing 1-0 in New Zealand. Will the team led by Dhoni win overseas tests again?? My answer, maybe yes but its hightime that Dhoni is released from the duties of a captain.

Coming to the Auckland test, that has been played on a drop-in surface full of grass, India won the toss and elected to field first and did everything right until the double centurion, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson joined hands to torcher the Indian bowlers. Everything that was strayed onto the pads or was marginally pitched short, vanished into the boundary as New Zealand piled on 503 runs in the first innings.

The Indian innings began in the most disastrous way it could have began as Dhawan and Pujara departed in the first over itself. India were reduced to 10-3 before Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane revived India to 130-4 before a stumble conceded New Zealand a 301 run lead. The second innings of New Zealand began with a stumble and they were reduced to 28-5. Ross Taylor resisted with 41 but unfortunately New Zealand managed only 105 in the second innings to set India a record chase of 407.

India began positively in the second innings as Dhawan and Kohli took India to a position from where they couldn’t lose but some bad umpiring and poor shot selection had them at 270-6. Jadeja and Dhoni counter-attacked beautifully but it was not be India’s game as they lost wickets at regular intervals and ultimately lost the match by 40 runs