A Revenge Story
The end of the World Cup was as exciting as it was unexpected . Australia managed to beat behemoths New Zealand at UAE to lift the trophy up . Despite a convincing run , the Kiwis faltered at the end . Not fazed by the result , they packed their bags and set sight on their next objective , the tour of India .
What makes this series exciting is not the calibre of the two teams , but the situation they are in . 2021 has been the year of the Kiwis , lifting the inaugural Test World Cup and reaching the finals of the T20 world cup , But these games are more personal for India . It was India who lost to New Zealand in the Test World Cup finals , and it was New Zealand who effectively knocked out India from the T20 world cup as well .
Going into this series , India wanted to beat New Zealand , to start a new era with Rohit Sharma ( captain ) and Rahul Dravid ( coach ) leading the side . And they did exactly that . Even without their stalwart batsmen Virat Kohli , India whitewashed the series 3–0 . Each one of the games was exemplarily played , and it was the third game that exemplified all of these qualities of Team India .
Yesterday when India faced New Zealand in Eden Gardens in Kolkata , they had already sealed the series . But they had a point to prove . Rohit Sharma led his men both with his voice and bat , leading the run brigade with 56 runs , as most batsmen in the team made it across double digits . New Zealand , who dominated our line up in the World Cup game suddenly had no answers to counter India with , letting the Blues score a sizeable 184 .
In return in the second innings it was the bowlers who dominated , especially Man of the Match Axar Patel , who took 3 wickets and gave only 9 runs in his 3 overs , effectively choking the Black Caps on the pitch their opponents were batting freely in . Everybody contributed in a truly all round victory to prove that India is far from being done and dusted . They are a force to be reckoned with . What is astonishing is that this series was won wothout their previous captin Virat Kohli , who took a break from the series . Yet the new face of India had no trouble playing exemplarily game after game .
This series was a positive up from their sad and early departure from the World Cup , and as we head to the test series on 29th , I promise you it will be a series still worth investing time in . Two of the world’s best teams go toe to toe again very soon , and I am sure it will be a delight to both the fans and the players . It heralds a new future of the sport from the perspective of India. A chance to improve and possibly dominate the world in all formats , akin to Australia in the 2000s or West Indies before that . A new era is approaching .
Thank You and have a nice week ahead .