WTC Final | Relentless Kiwis punish India, redeem themselves with first ICC title in decades

A calm and composed partnership between two senior pros Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor made 139 runs target set by India a fairly one-sided contest and clinched the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship for New Zealand.

Ravichandran Ashwin used all the tricks and guile he had up his sleeve to bring India into reckoning with the big wickets of Tom Latham and Devon Conway, but the pair of Williamson and Taylor was too disciplined early on and lucky to be dismissed.

In the end, in the most fitting way, Ross Taylor clipped Mohammed Shami over the in-field to score the winning runs and win New Zealand their first ICC title since 1999.

However, the biggest henchmen for New Zealand’s were the bowlers, who never allowed India to get away with a flow of runs or an extended period of partnership. 

The day started on a rather inauspicious note for India as Virat Kohli, who appeared tentative in search of that nip backer that found him plumb in the first innings, edged behind to Watling behind the wicket on delivery he could have left it easily if not for the baggage of the first innings.

The day went from bad to worse for Indians as Cheteshwar Pujara too fell for a similar dismissal by poking Jamieson to Ross Taylor at the first slip. Things could have been far worse than it actually turned out but Tim Southee spilt a sitter off the edge of Rishabh Pant’s bat.

Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Pant started bringing India back on track but after the right-hander found a loss delivery outside off stump, he was strangled down the leg side off Trent Boult.

Rahane’s departure led to an outrageous attempt of counter-attacking by Rishabh Pant, who went down the track to hit pacers over the top on numerous occasions but it was not to be for India. Ravindra Jadeja joined Pant to take India to the lunch interval with the lead in the range of 100 runs.

But, just when Jadeja looked settled at the crease, Williamson switched to his tormentor-in-chief Wagner from round the wicket and he set up Jadeja with discipline and perseverance. 

Pant’s remarkable attempt to hit bowlers off their length did not pay off today and India’s lower-order batsmen were left helpless in the hands of the dominating New Zealand bowling lineup.

In the end, India were bundled out for 170 runs and New Zealand had a clear target in their sight to lift the much-vaunted ICC Mace, and Williamson played a chanceless innings to deny India any opportunity to get back in the game.

Taylor took a long time to get off the mark after walking out to the bat when the Blackcaps needed 93 runs but finally opened up his shoulders against the off-spin of Ravi Ashwin. He also offered a chance to Pujara at the first slip off Bumrah but India’s number three compounded poor batting performances by dropping a straightforward chance. 

Kyle Jamieson broke the backbone of India’s batting in both innings with the big wickets of Kohli, Pujara and Rohit Sharma and also played a handy knock with the bat to help New Zealand achieve a lead of 32 runs in the first innings, and was rightfully awarded with the Player of the Match award in the end.