India registered emphatic 2-0 victory in the 18th Test Series against New Zealand. This was the 4th series where all the tests produced result and India’s first clean sweep. New Zealand has made a clean sweep at home series in 2002/03 winning both the tests. Ashwin was the star of the series and major difference between the bowling sides.
2012 Ind vs NZ Series Schedule and Results
Historically the top two bowlers of the series were Zaheer Khan (288 wickets) and Chris Martin (229). Both failed to impress with Zaheer managing only 3 wickets in 2nd test after being wicketless in 1st test, while Martin could take only 1 wicket in the only test he played.
Even in Batting, the highest run scorers from both sides failed to shine. While Tendulkar could manage a paltry 63 runs in 3 innings, Brendum McCullum (3891 runs) could add only 87 runs in 4 innings.
Batting
While only 3 New Zealand batsmen could cross the 100-run mark, 4 of the Indian batsmen aggregated 100+, Pujara and Kohli scoring more than 200 runs in 3 innings each.
Even after batting all 4 innings of the series, Kiwis can produce only one century and 3 half-centuries. Indians batted 3 innings and produced two centuries and 5 half-centuries.
Bowling
India grabbed all 40 wickets available with Ashwin taking almost 50% of them finishing with 18 wickets in 4 innings. New Zealand bowlers were listless except the first innings performance of Southee in the second test. Overall, they managed only 25 wickets.
While Southee’s 7-wicket haul was their only countable performance, Indian bowlers managed a 5-wicket haul in every innings, with Ashwin being the star performer thrice. It also included a 12-wicket haul that is a new record of best bowling performance in India vs New Zealand test matches.
Whitewashed
Except the first innings of second test where Taylor created magic in batting and Southee in bowling, New Zealand did not pose any problem to India. As expected, India completed an easy sweep. India won both tests in less than 4 days. In fact, the first test was won in almost 3 days, if rain interruption is not counted.
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