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On Sunday, November 3, India succumbed to a tough loss by 25 runs in the third Test of the three-match Test series against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With that, the Indian cricket team were whitewashed in a three-match Test series at home for the first-time in history, suffering a 0-3 defeat after their earlier Test losses came in Bengaluru and Pune last month.
While chasing a target of 147 runs on day three, the Indian batting lineup was no match to the spin duo of Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips, who picked up nine wickets among themselves, to help bundle out India for 121 runs in just 29.1 overs. It has also meant that the chance for the Men in Blue to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final have dwindled significantly with five Test matches against Australia down under for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series, which is set to happen later this month.
In this article, SportsTiger gives ratings to Indian players after their loss against New Zealand in the third Test.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammed Siraj - 2
The two stalwarts of Indian cricket, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were far from their best during the Test series against New Zealand as their performance in the third Test was poor to say the least. While Rohit Sharma managed to lose his wicket to pacer Matt Henry twice on a Mumbai pitch where 16 wickets fell to spin, Virat Kohli ran himself out in the first innings before a brilliant delivery from Ajaz Patel had his number in the second innings.
Sarfaraz Khan was dismissed twice by Ajaz Patel with the first one being on a beautiful delivery turning away from the batter, while the second one was on a full toss. In the Mumbai Test, Mohammed Siraj bowled just six overs in the first innings, looking quite ineffective with the new ball, while the captain didn’t introduce him into the attack in the second innings.
