'Bhuvi and Chahar’s bowling styles were more suited to the New Zealand conditions' - Sanjay Manjrekar

The post-mortem continues of what was a chastening defeat for the ‘No.1 ranked’ side in the world and the current leaders of the ICC Test championship table (360 points after 9 matches), India at the hands of Kane Williamson-led Kiwis. 

This was probably the first overseas series under the leadership of Virat Kohli where India did not even compete. India were, as Kohli admitted in the post-match conference, well-and-truly annihilated by the BlackCaps in all facets of the game, which to the surprise and disappointment of the many, also included fast bowling.

In conditions ideally conducive to seam-and-swing, New Zealand bowlers got the ball to move more– both in the air and off the seam– more than Indian counterparts in Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had consistently pointed to the fact that the reason behind the Kiwis getting more movement than the Indians was because the likes of Shami and Bumrah are predominantly seam bowlers.

Sanjay Manjkrekar analyzes India’s defeat

Manjrekar had first raised this point after the first Test– which India lost by ten wickets– via his Twitter account where he wrote: “Why could NZ seamers get the ball to swing and deviate more than Indian seamers? Because on this surface wrist at an angle to swing the ball was needed. All three Indian seamers, though top class, are not really out & outswing bowlers”

Each of the Kiwi bowlers- and especially Colin de Grandhomme– got a significant amount of movement in Christchurch as well. And, Manjrekar was once again at it on Twitter where he wrote: “Learnings for India – Need swing bowlers who pitch the ball up more than seam bowlers who hit the deck in NZ & the quest to find batsmen who can cope with swinging conditions must continue. Remember Ind 5/3? WC semis? Again swinging conditions, same opposition,” Manjrekar tweeted.

Manjrekar was asked the same question by one of the fans during his Q-A session on Twitter. The fan asked whether Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar would have got a lot more purchase from the wicket as compared to Shami or Umesh Yadav.

Manjrekar cited the example of de Grandhomme to assert that Bhuvneshwar and Chahar– both of whom were unavailable due to injury– would have been ideal in New Zealand conditions.

“Bhuvi and Chahar’s bowling styles were more suited to the conditions we had for the Tests. Look at DeGrandhomme’s effectiveness as a bowler,” Manjrekar replied.