India faced a crushing 113-run defeat in the second Test against New Zealand in Pune on October 26. With this India also lost the three-match series with a match to spare which impacted their PCT in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025 points table. This defeat marked India's first Test series loss on home soil since 2012.
India's brutal drubbing in Pune Test against New Zealand
The loss in Pune was particularly disappointing as it was the first time India had suffered consecutive defeats to New Zealand on home turf. Moreover, New Zealand became only the third team in the 21st century to achieve a Test series victory in India, joining Australia (2004) and England (2012).
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Rohit Sharma's India's WTC campaign suffered a big setback with the humiliating defeat to New Zealand in the second Test at the MCA stadium. This loss caused India's WTC points percentage to drop from 68.06 to 62.82, leaving them with a narrow lead over defending champions Australia.
India now face a challenging task to secure a spot in the WTC final, with six crucial matches remaining, including a Test against New Zealand in Mumbai and the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia.
The second Test against New Zealand was dominated by the visitors. India were bowled out for a meager 156 runs in response to New Zealand's total of 259. Mitchell Santner's exceptional bowling performance, claiming a career-best 7/53, proved to be decisive. New Zealand then set a target of 359 runs, which India failed to chase down despite a strong start from Yashasvi Jaiswal. This defeat marked a disappointing end to the series for India.
Here's how the WTC 2023-2025 points table looks like after India's Test series loss to New Zealand
|
Pos. |
Team |
Matches |
Points Ded. |
Contested |
Points |
PCT |
|||
| P | W | L | D | ||||||
| 1 | India | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 156 | 98 | 62.82 |
| 2 | Australia | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 144 | 90 | 62.5 |
| 3 | Sri Lanka | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 108 | 60 | 55.56 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 60 | 50 |
| 5 | South Africa | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 84 | 40 | 47.62 |
| 6 | England | 19 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 19 | 228 | 93 | 40.79 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 120 | 40 | 33.33 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 108 | 33 | 30.56 |
| 9 | West Indies | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 108 | 20 | 18.52 |
I don’t want to do any postmortem: Rohit Sharma
India captain Rohit Sharma didn't overreact after team's Test series loss to New Zealand. Despite the disappointing 113-run defeat in Pune, which ended India's 18-match unbeaten home streak, Sharma has opted against a detailed post-mortem analysis.
“It has happened in the last two Test matches, we’ve won 18 consecutive series at home which means we’ve done a lot of things right. We’ve performed well exceptionally over the past number of years. Hence, I won’t go too much deep into it and that we’ve messed up a lot. I think 2-3 innings we’ve underperformed with the bat but it happens when you’re performing consistently for so long, you come under a loss,” said Rohit in the post-match press conference.
“I don’t want to doubt anyone’s potential. These guys have helped us remain unbeaten at home for so long and hence I don’t want to do any postmortem. But we can see what we can do to come out of such situations and batters should come out with trust in their plan. New Zealand batters also showed that if you put bowlers under pressure things will happen in your favour,” he added.
