Virat Kohli Revealed What Changed In The Second Test: What a great series it was for the Indian cricket team. After white-washing the Kiwis in the 3 T20Is by 3-0, the Indian side gave another dominating performance as they thrashed New Zealand by a huge margin of 372 runs to clinch the series 1-0. The New Zealand side showed a great fight in the Kanpur Test, that ended up in a draw.
However, the Indian side returned with a bang, and completely dominated over the Kiwis from the word go. Virat Kohli and co. gave brilliant performances in all the departments of the game after winning the toss on Day 1.
Mayank Agarwal is adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant show with the bat ??#TeamIndia | @mayankcricket | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/YWaetCtjat
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2021
For the first two days, it was all about Mayank Agarwal stealing the show with his bat. The stylish opener continued with his terrific home record as he scored 150 runs. While on the other hand, New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel stole the show with the ball as he created history and became only the third bowler to take all the 10 wickets in a Test inning. His heroics helped his side bowl India out for 325 runs.
In reply, New Zealand failed miserably with the bat as they were bundled out for just 62 runs. Siraj and Ashwin ran through the Kiwi players and restricted them to their lowest total ever against India.
The 372-run victory is #TeamIndia‘s biggest victory by runs in Test cricket! #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/Kfrpb1zv3i
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 6, 2021
During the second innings, Mayank Agarwal once again played a crucial knock of 62 runs. Shubman Gill and Pujara also contributed with 47 runs each before Axar Patel’s quick-fire 41 off 26 balls took India to 276/7. The hosts declared at 540 runs.
Kiwis once again failed to chase the target. Daryl Mitchell was the highest run-scorer from the side as he scored 60 runs off 92 balls. Ravi Ashwin and Jayant Yadav were terrific with the ball as they picked 4 wickets each.
Later, after the match, Virat Kohli talked about the performance of the Indian cricket team and he was all praises for his boys. He also talked about what changes they made in the team in the second Test match after the first Test ended in a draw. He said:
“To come back with a win is a great feeling, returning as the captain it was a clinical performance, something we’ve seen time and again. You want individuals to step up and guys did that. Even the first Test match was good, this was better. We discussed areas we could improve on, it was also a case of the opposition playing out a good draw and pitch not assisting the bowlers on day five like you expect it to. “
“Here the pitch had a bit more, were able to create more pressure, also because there was more pace and bounce. All in all, the pitch at Wankhede provided the opportunity to play good cricket all around.”
Talking about the upcoming series to South Africa, Virat said:
“We all are serving Indian cricket, the previous management did a terrific job, now with Rahul bhai coming in, the mindset is the same. To take Indian cricket forward. It’s a good challenge in South Africa, that was the start of our perseverance to build abroad, Australia was an accumulation of those efforts. We have the belief we can win anywhere. It’s a tough challenge, something we want to achieve, everyone’s motivated”
