India v New Zealand Test series – New Zealand Player Ratings

The India v New Zealand Test series was all about the hosts. Indian skipper Virat Kohli won every toss and his team did what they were expected to, and sealed all the three Tests without much ado. New Zealand, on the other hand, couldn’t sort out their issues as they were a little too many. Right from the opening batsmen to the spin bowler no department actually was at par with the expectations.

Skipper Kane Williamson wasn’t available for the second Test, the batting unit looked a boat without a sail as no Kiwis batsman had a workable plan against India’s spin bowling ace Ravichandran Ashwin. The series wasn’t played on rank turners, Kanpur gave batsmen enough opportunities, the pacers were pretty much in business in Kolkata and that Indore was a good batting track was quite evident from the fact that Virat scored a double ton, Ajinkya Rahane got 188 and Cheteshwar Pujara managed a century on day 4.

It was the lack of application on the New Zealanders part that cost them the series, subcontinent conditions are tough but you need to adapt to it as quickly as possible. They definitely couldn’t do it in the Tests and will be interesting to see their approach in the upcoming ODI series. Here we rate the New Zealand players for their performance in the series.

Tom Latham – 7/10:

Opener Tom Latham was the best Kiwi batsman in the series, he looked certain about his game. He scored off when the opportunity was there and was also relatively comfortable against the Indian spinners.

Latham started the series on a positive note with a half century (58) and after a couple of poor scores- 2 and 1 in the following innings hit back to back fifties in the last inning at Kolkata and first at Indore with 74 and 53 respectively. But he failed once again in the last inning departing for 6 dismissed lbw to an Umesh Yadav delivery.