On the fifth and final day of the opening Test in Bengaluru, New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets to claim their first Test victory on Indian soil in thirty-six years. Under Tom Latham's leadership, the Kiwis outperformed India in every way, bowling the hosts out for just 46 in the opening session and securing a historic victory—their first on Indian soil since 1988. However, after the match, Latham revealed that he was about to make the same mistake as Rohit Sharma but he was able to avoid it thanks to the Indian skipper.
Tom Latham after the match
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Later he accepted that he failed to understand the condition and took the blame for this decision. Now, Latham has revealed that he was about to make the same decision but was saved as Rohit Sharma won the toss.
I think we were actually going to bat first as well. Good toss to lose in the end. We put the ball in the right areas for a long period of time and got the results. The first two innings set the game up for us. We knew India would come back at us in the third innings but the bowlers asked nice questions with the second new ball and got the results. We know what a quality side India are in their own conditions. We saw what the new ball did for us so we expected them to do the same to us. We managed to build a couple of partnerships up top and I thought the partnership between Rachin and Tim (Southee) put us on the front foot when the game was in the balance. It was nice to only chase a 100," said Tom Latham in the post-match presentation
New Zealand's first Test win in India since 1988
On the last day of play, New Zealand survived a strong bowling effort from Jasprit Bumrah, who claimed two wickets for 29 runs in eight overs, in order to defend a target of 107 runs. Rachin Ravindra, who was at 39 not out, and Will Young, who was still undefeated at 48, formed a solid partnership and added 75 runs for the third wicket. In just 27.4 overs, Rachin and Young enabled New Zealand to attain the mark.
