The Indian cricket team beat New Zealand by 372 runs on the fourth day of the second Test at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Monday. In doing so, the hosts won the two-match Test series 1-0. The Indian spinners had a field day as they picked up wickets at will, running through the middle order and the tail to wrap up the New Zealand innings early.

Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Jayant Yadav picked up four wickets apiece. Rachin Ravindra was the first wicket to fall early in the day as India set the ball rolling.

Shortly after, Kyle Jamieson departed in search of a big hit. He danced down the wicket, looking to smoke Jayant Yadav for a big one, but the ball kept low and crashed into the stumps. It was only a matter of time before India wrapped things up.

For India, the pattern continues. They remain slow starters. They lost the first Test against England at home earlier this year and then went on to lose the WTC final. In perspective, what Virat Kohli had said last time may be true, had India gotten a best of three, results could be different.

Likewise, India drew the first Test and won the second, going up the WTC 2023 table.

As for New Zealand, they showed grit as they chased a mammoth 540-run target. Only Daryll Mitchell was the one who could counter the Indian spin attack. The rest were temporary stays in the middle. The match ended before drinks.

India’s decent first innings total was stolen by Ajaz Patel’s history-making outing. However, the celebrations lasted only a few minutes because New Zealand found themselves 62-all-out in their second innings.

The margin of victory is India’s highest ever on home soil.

For a team that had fought tooth and nail in Kanpur, the extra bounce and turn did pose familiar problems for the Kiwis in a match they will try to remember for Ajaz Patel’s 10-wicket heroics.

“I think it was good to finish the series as winners, came close in Kanpur, not able to get that last wicket, had to work hard here. This result seems one-sided, but right through the series, we were made to work hard,” India coach Rahul Dravid said after the demolition act.

“There have been phases where we were behind and had to fight back, credit to the team. Great to see the boys stepping up and taking their opportunities,” he added.

Funnily, Patel bowled 73.5 overs across two innings for New Zealand and his team, in total, batted 84.4 overs which would signify abject capitulation.