India humbled at home again by NZ for rare series defeat

India’s proud streak of not losing a home Test series since 2012 came to an abrupt end yesterday in a humiliating 2-0 defeat by New Zealand, who exposed cracks in the hosts’ vaunted batting line-up by tormenting them with pace and then spin.The alarm bells will be ringing for India before they embark on a gruelling five-match tour of Australia next month, with the team’s form under the microscope after they were bowled out for 245 in Pune and suffered a 113-run defeat.While spinner Mitchell Santner took six wickets for a match haul of 13 to spell doom on a turning pitch, the hosts were left in tatters by New Zealand’s pace bowlers in overcast conditions in the series opener at Bengaluru."It’s a really special feeling. Very proud to be in this position,” said new permanent skipper Tom Latham, who took over from Tim Southee after a 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka. "It’s not just me but a team effort... I’m stoked for the guys. It’s really special.”India continue to top the World Test Championship standings despite the two defeats but will be less confident about a spot in next year’s final after their first series loss on home soil since falling to England in 2012. Their run of 18 successive home series wins since that 2-1 humbling was snapped by the inspired Black Caps, who were by far the better side and will target a clean sweep heading to the finale in Mumbai from Friday.Man-of-the-match Santner ended with 6-104, earning the Black Caps a maiden series victory in India, and they achieved the feat without their best batsman Kane Williamson due to a groin issue.With spin dominating on the black-soil turner at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, it was fitting that Ajaz Patel took the final two wickets, including Ravindra Jadeja for 42, to seal the victory. New Zealand became only the fourth team to win a Test series in India since 1990 after South Africa, Australia and England."When you come over here, you always want to compete,” Latham added. "Santner in the first innings was fantastic. To get a break and bowl the way he did, credit must go to him.”India’s highest successful run chase at home was the 387-4 they scored to beat England in Chennai in 2008 but any hopes of a similar effort faded in the spin storm.They made a blazing start as Yashasvi Jaiswal smacked some spectacular boundaries, but his dismissal for 77 by Santner and Rishabh Pant’s shocking run out for a duck after lunch left India in deep trouble at 127-4.Santner, who earlier removed Rohit Sharma for eight and Shubman Gill for 23, continued to trouble India and trapped trump card Virat Kohli lbw for 17.Sarfaraz Khan was unable to recreate his batting heroics from the opening match, perishing for nine after missing a low delivery from Santner to hand the bowler back-to-back five-wicket hauls.The shoulders really dropped when Washington Sundar fell for 21 to Glenn Phillips and Santner had Ravichandran Ashwin caught for 18 as India stared down the barrel. "It’s disappointing,” said Rohit, who has raised eyebrows for his decision-making, including the move to bat first on a damp pitch in overcast Bengaluru."It’s not what we expected but you’ve got to give credit to New Zealand. They played better than us. We failed to capitalise on certain moments in the game, we failed to respond to those challenges and sit here with this result.”Rohit, who, like Kohli, has had only one fifty in his last eight innings, called on India’s batsmen to step up. "I don’t think we batted well enough. To win Tests you need to take 20 wickets but the batsmen have to put runs on the board too,” he said.New Zealand were dismissed for 255 in their second innings after Latham’s 86 and handy contributions lower down the order put them in a strong position. Resuming on 198-5, New Zealand trotted along nicely in the morning until Jadeja castled Tom Blundell for 41 for his first wicket of the match.Santner, who took 7-53 to give the Black Caps the upper hand on Friday, looked to target Jadeja but misread a looped delivery from the left-arm spinner and was caught in the deep for four. Southee followed him back into the dugout, edging Ashwin to Rohit, who showed quick reflexes to pull off a superb catch.BRIEF SCORES: NZ 259 (Conway 76, Ravindra 65, Washington 7-59, Ashwin 3-64) and 255 (Latham 86, Phillips 48*, Washington 4-56, Jadeja 3-72) beat India 156 (Jadeja 38, Santner 7-53, Phillips 2-26) and 245 (Jaiswal 77, Jadeja 42, Santner 6-104) by 113 runs.