It has been a dream run for New Zealand Cricket in the last 30 days or so. The White Ferns began their history-making campaign in the Women's T20 World Cup on October 4 by hammering India and exactly 30 days later, the Black Caps made sure to wallop India 3-0 in their own backyard and became the first-ever team to do so in 91 years. India, who hadn't lost a home Test to New Zealand in 36 years, lost three in a space of 20 days and thereby conceding a series that at no point they looked like winning.
There will be a lot of scrutiny and review of the performances but it is time for New Zealand to rejoice. For the first time in their Test history, New Zealand have won three matches in a series. In their 94-year-old Test history, the Black Caps had never won more than two matches in a bilateral series and Tom Latham in his first assignment as full-time captain has achieved it.
Latham already has the fifth-most number of wins as a Test captain for New Zealand - seven - after Stephen Fleming (28), Kane Williamson (22), Geoff Howarth (11) and Brendon McCullum (11) in just 12 matches.
After the Kiwis took a 1-0 lead, it seemed like Bengaluru was an anomaly and that India would storm back into the series and win the remaining couple of games. However, the performances in Pune and Mumbai were even more abject and heartbreaking with the senior pros Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin really struggling on pitches where Mitchell Santner, Will Young and Ajaz Patel did the trick.
Pune 2017, Indore 2023 and now Pune again and Mumbai - whenever India have tried to go for turning tracks, their batters' inability to play spin has cost them rather badly.
Now, with this 3-0 series win, New Zealand are in with a real chance to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) with a three-match series against England at home left.
