India v New Zealand, 2012

Test matches (2): India 2, New Zealand 0
Twenty20 internationals (2): India 0, New Zealand 1

	India weren't made to feel the absence of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the middle order as young batsmen like Virat Kohli stepped up © Associated Press Enlarge
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India found themselves in a no-win situation going into this brief encounter. Despite the retirement of two of their finest batsmen, they were expected to make short work of a New Zealand side lacking their most experienced and influential player, Daniel Vettori, who missed the Tests with a groin injury. Anything less than their 2-0 sweep would have gone down as a failure, even though India had not played a Test match for seven months following their evisceration in Australia.

For the first time, India hosted a Test in August, towards the end of their monsoon season. The rains generally stayed away, but their preparations were hit instead by the retirement of V. V. S. Laxman only five days before the First Test - and after he had been named in the 15-man squad for the series. India were already braced for life without Rahul Dravid, who had bade farewell in March, but Laxman's sudden announcement took the think tank by surprise.

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar were now expected to lead the way and ease the pressure on the new boys. But it was the Young Turks who caught the eye: Virat Kohli made a hundred and two half-centuries in his three innings, while Cheteshwar Pujara celebrated his first Test since January 2011 with a polished, mature 159 under pressure at Hyderabad. M. S. Dhoni pulled his weight at No. 7 as the middle order more than compensated for the fact that Sehwag, Gambhir and Tendulkar failed to pass fifty in nine attempts.

New Zealand had been competitive on Indian soil in recent years - before this series, they had drawn eight of their previous 11 Tests there, dating back to 1995-96 - but they were comprehensively outplayed in the First Test as India's slow men spun a wicked web. Withdrawing into their shells - and their creases - New Zealand's batsmen mustered 159 and 164 as Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha suffocated them on a track providing ample assistance. Ashwin had endured a middling tour of Australia, with only nine wickets in three Tests, but now he befuddled New Zealand, mainly with his stock off-break. Slow left-armer Ojha, a little more defensive but relentlessly accurate, was an admirable second fiddle. Ashwin finished with 18 wickets in the two Tests to Ojha's 13 - fine returns considering that the second game, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, was played in conditions that were actually more favourable to New Zealand.

Overcast skies and a surface that afforded considerable bounce presented them with their best chance of a first Test win in India since 1988-89. To their credit, they raised their game several notches, with Ross Taylor's brilliant century on the first day a clear indication that the diffidence of Hyderabad had been cast aside. But India - behind for much of the game - managed to keep themselves in the hunt through sheer grit. Kohli's first-innings century was a particularly fine effort as he countered the marauding Tim Southee, who finished with seven for 64, the best figures by a New Zealander in India. But the batsmen didn't quite build on his exploits, and India were set 261 to complete their expected 2-0 victory.

No Test team had previously made more than 207 to win at Bangalore, but India found their heroes in Kohli and Dhoni, who steadied the ship from 166 for five and took them home without further damage. Even so, the immediate focus was on Tendulkar. For the first time in Tests since the 2002 tour of England, he was bowled three times on the trot, punishment for a propensity to play around his front pad. His future was debated with renewed vigour.

The brief Twenty20 series that followed the Tests was all about Yuvraj Singh, who was making his return to competitive cricket after overcoming a rare germ-cell cancer. His comeback was delayed by incessant rain at Visakhapatnam, but he calmed fears that he had been brought back prematurely with a competent performance in Chennai - even if it wasn't quite enough to prevent New Zealand's only win of the tour.

Match reports for

1st Test: India v New Zealand at Hyderabad, Aug 23-26, 2012
Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: India v New Zealand at Bengaluru, Aug 31-Sep 3, 2012
Report | Scorecard

1st T20I: India v New Zealand at Visakhapatnam, Sep 8, 2012
Report | Scorecard

2nd T20I: India v New Zealand at Chennai, Sep 11, 2012
Report | Scorecard