IND vs NZ: Collective Failure with Bat to Carelessness - Reasons behind India's worst Test series Defeat in History

The indomitable Indian Test chariot on home soil suffered a catastrophic tumble as New Zealand breached the territory beyond their wildest dreams and inflicted a mauling of the Indian team, not in a solitary encounter, but in the entirety of a three-match Test series.

Gautam Gambhir's second red-ball assignment as India's head coach became a nightmare. The team forfeited a 3-0 series defeat, their first whitewash in 24 years and the very first in India.

A New Zealand team, fresh from deep injuries in Sri Lanka, crossed the Palk Strait with a radical change, slaying the giant at their own vicious backyard. Take nothing away from the Kiwis, they have been amazing the whole series. Losing Kane Williamson seemed a massive blow for them, but the way the visitors have dazzled and outplayed India needs a standing ovation.

But what happened to the Indian gladiators? After the ODI series blip in Sri Lanka, India looked on course. A 2-0 Test series win over Bangladesh followed by the T20I series win seemed to have put things straight, but who knew what was coming!

The tone of the series was set in Bengaluru, when India crippled out for just 46 runs in the first innings. Although Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan put a brief counter, that solitary day is the sole one in which India dominated in this Test series.

The tenacity and fighting spirit the Indian boys showed completely evaporated in the last two Test matches, raising questions about the reasons behind their amazing downfall.

IND vs NZ: The Reasons behind India's Dismal Series Defeat

Collective Batting Failure

The biggest reason behind is the way India batted in the series. It was a collective batting failure except Rishabh Pant and partially Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were abysmal, both scoring less than 100 runs in the entire series, with an average of less than 16. India's batting gladiators had no formula to decode the Kiwi pacers in Bengaluru, then Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner tormented them with the spin in the last two matches. As the Australia series on the corner, batting has to improve radically.

Baffling Off-Field Tactics

Gone are those days when India had the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag with VVS Laxman behind them - who could tackle spin like bread and butter. These Indian batters are not invincible against spin, which was evident in Pune and Mumbai. But despite the defeat in Pune, team India's choice to go with a spinning track in Mumbai is quite baffling. Gautam Gambhir and his think tank failed miserably to counter the visitors, which has in turn coupled with the inadequate batting prowess of the Indian team to inflict irrecoverable damage.

Not Complacency, but Carelessness

The Indian players were not complacent, at this level, no one ever is. But despite that, the batters and bowlers kept on making repeated silly mistakes, which in turn haunted the team in the series. India captain Rohit Sharma gifted his wickets, so did Shubman Gill in the Mumbai Test. These minute yet pivotal errors have ravaged the prospects big time for them, and needs a proper antidote before the Australia series.

After continued domination for almost 12 years, the Indian fort was breached again by the foreign invaders, this time the tiny yet gutsy Kiwis from down the Southern Hemisphere. Undoubtedly, this will go down as one of the poorest few days of Indian cricket in more than a decade or so, but they have an opportunity to turn the tables. With the Australia assignment up next, the world shall keep a close eye on Rohit Sharma and his troops.