India v New Zealand Test series – Combined XI

It was a heartening finish for the team India as they completed a 3-0 whitewash against a hapless New Zealand side. The Kiwis showed fight sporadically, though. India moved to the top of the ICC rankings with the series win. The Test series began in grand style as India played their 500th Test. Special knocks from Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara set the stage right. R Ashwin stole the show with his 6-wicket haul. But the main man was Ravindra Jadeja, who bagged a five-for and backed it up with a half century.

For the Kiwis, Luke Ronchi’s fighting 80 was a solitary positive. The second match was a better one for the Kiwis. Matt Henry bowled some hostile spells to put India on the back foot. Some gutsy lower-order batting by Wriddhiman Saha gave impetus to the Indian innings. Twin unbeaten fifties were up against his name. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 5/48 blew away the visiting New Zealand lineup.

New Zealand were already down and out when they arrived at Indore for the final Test. Indore Test had India written all over it. From Virat Kohli’s magical double ton to Ajinkya Rahane’s fighting 188 – Indian batting exploded. On the bowling front, the Kiwis were found wanting against R Ashwin. Ashwin ended up with career best figures of 7/59 and a match haul of 13 wickets to give India a resounding win. Undoubtedly, the series was action packed. Here are the power performers of the series who form the Combined XI:

Tom Latham:

One of the few New Zealand batsman who got success in the Test series was Tom Latham. Latham was quick to adapt to the Indian conditions. Latham started off the tour on a high with high scores in the practice matches. He carried forward the good form to the Kanpur Test, where he scored 58 in the first innings. In the Kolkata Test, where most Kiwi batsman struggled to score, Latham put on a fighting 74 in New Zealand’s total of 197 in the second innings.

When the chips were down for the Kiwis in the final Test, Latham initiated the counter attack to come up with another half century. He formed a 118-run stand for the first wicket with Martin Guptill to stage a fightback. On the whole, Latham scored 194 runs in 6 innings at an average of 32.33. He was the second leading run-getter for New Zealand in the series.