After a cracking clash to open the series, New Zealand’s 2021 tour of India will conclude when the two sides meet again at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in the second and final Test, which is set to kick off this Friday.
India vs New ZealandLatest Odds & Match Info |
|
|---|---|
| Second Test odds | India -208.33 | Draw +420 at Bovada | New Zealand +405 |
| When | Friday, December 3 – Tuesday, December 7 |
| Where | Wankhede Stadium – Mumbai, India |
| Watch Live | SonyLIV (IN), Sky Sport (NZ) |
After a cracking clash to open the series, New Zealand’s 2021 tour of India will conclude when the two sides meet again at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in the second and final Test, which is set to kick off this Friday.
With the Black Caps chasing 284 for victory on the final day, the match appeared to be headed for a tame draw until a middle-order collapse left the visitors in dire straights with a session to go.
India continued to chip away at the tail and looked to have it won when they got down to the final pair with the better part of an hour still to play, but rookie allrounder Rachin Ravindra, no.11 Ajaz Patel and the umpires’ light meters had other ideas.
Playing in his first Test match, Ravindra soaked up 91 balls against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja, holding on just long enough for the officials to call bad light with 12 minutes of scheduled play remaining.
While the Kiwis will no doubt be feeling better about the result than their opponents, they will need to lift their game in a big way if they wish to avoid a similar struggle – or worse – in Mumbai.
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The in-form Tom Latham top scored in both innings with 95 and 52, and he had support from his opening partner in the first dig as Will Young hit 89, but the rest of NZ’s established batters failed to make an impact.
That point was highlighted in embarrassing fashion in the second innings when Will Somerville, who came in at no.3 as a nightwatchman, finished as the second-top scorer with 36.
On the other side of the fence, Shreyas Iyer made 105 and 65 on his Test debut, while Wriddhiman Saha (61*) and Axar Patel (28*) could easily have batted India to more than 234/7 in the second dig had Ajinkya Rahane not opted to declare when he did.
Even more worrying for New Zealand is that the hosts were without their superstar captain for the first Test, but Virat Kohli will return to the lineup at the Wankhede.
Thus, it is no surprise to see India installed as -208.33 favourites at the top cricket betting sites, with NZ paying over +400 for the win.
Perhaps the strangest thing about NZ’s performance in Kanpur is that their seamers did the heavy lifting on a pitch where India’s spinners thrived. Between them, Tim Southee (5/69 & 3/75) and Kyle Jamieson (3/91 & 3/40) took 14 of their side’s 17 dismissals, while Rachin Ravindra and William Somerville went wicketless for the match. Jamieson’s ability to extract bounce out of dead surfaces makes him a threat in any and all conditions, and it is hard to bet against a bloke who has claimed 52 scalps at 15.05 in only nine Test matches.
New Zealand’s batters have a huge problem with good spin bowling on turning wickets. And that issue isn’t limited to the Black Caps’ emerging players; former skipper Ross Taylor averages just 23.23 across nine Tests in India, while Kane Williamson is not a whole lot better at 33.53 from eight games. India’s three spinners shared 17 of 19 dismissals between them in Kanpur, and it could be a similar story in Mumbai. Also, Virat Kohli is a pretty handy in for the home team.
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