IND vs NZ, 2nd Test: We expected India to be at their best, says New Zealand skipper Latham after series win

Following New Zealand’s poor show in Sri Lanka, Tim Southee stepped down from Test captaincy, passing the baton to Tom Latham.

Tom Latham of New Zealand during India vs New Zealand test match at Maharashtra Cricket Association ( MCA ) stadium at Pune. | Photo Credit: K BHAGYA PRAKSH/ The Hindu

When Tom Latham took over as the New Zealand captain earlier this month, little did he imagine that his team would go on to create history by winning its first-ever Test series on Indian soil.

Coming to India on the back of an embarrassing 0-2 defeat against Sri Lanka, not many expected the Kiwis to put up a brave show against a high-flying Indian team, which remained unbeaten at home Tests for twelve long years.

But then, the visiting side had other plans.

It stunned India in the series-opener by reducing the home team to 46 in the first innings and went on to earn a convincing win. And, it followed it up with another 113-run win in the second Test here on Saturday, denting India’s chances in the World Test Championship.

“When we come here in India, we expect India to be at their best. I think if you look back to the Bangalore game, they put us under pressure in the third innings. We certainly knew that was going to be the case. Even today, I think the way that (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and Rohit (Sharma) and Shubman (Gill) came out and played, they certainly put us under pressure,” Latham said.

“We knew it was going to be hard work to get all 10 wickets. It was nice that it unfolded really quickly,” he added with a smile.

New Zealand won the toss in Pune and opted to bat first on a turning track, and Latham backed his move. “I think that was the first toss that I’ve won. It obviously played a big part,” he said, adding: “ It’s been really important that we’ve come here and wanted to compete with a lot of different players from the first half. I certainly think we’ve done that in both games. Obviously with the ball in the first game, some of that there, the first of these runs on the board, it’s been really important…”

Following the team’s poor show in Sri Lanka, Tim Southee stepped down from captaincy, passing the baton to Latham. Reflecting on the series, the captain said, “I think looking back at the Sri Lankan series, we were on the wrong side of the results but I think as a whole we didn’t play that bad of cricket.

ubilant Mitchell Santner (l) and Tom Latham after taking the wicket of Virat Kohli in second innings. | Photo Credit: K BHAGYA PRAKSH/ The Hindu

“There were some really good moments in there and that’s just the game we play, that’s just cricket. Sometimes you fall on the wrong side even though you might be playing okay. We’ve come here and we’ve been on the right side of a couple of tosses as well,” he said.

After clinching the series, New Zealand will travel to Mumbai for the final series. Even though it would be a dead rubber, the visiting side doesn’t want to take things easy. “We’re going to have a completely different surface there as we played there a couple of years ago. So we’ve got a little bit of information around what the surface may be like (in Mumbai), but just being here at this moment, enjoying each other’s company and enjoying the wins, we’ll give it first and foremost but then we’ll move on to the last Test in Mumbai,” Latham said with a smile.