From Bengaluru to Dubai: A Super Sunday for New Zealand cricket

It’s not for nothing that 20 October is being hailed as the Super Sunday for New Zealand cricket. If the men’s team kept their nerves to coast to a stunning eight-wicket win over India in Bengaluru, marking their first Test win in India in 36 years; the White Ferns lifted their maiden T20 Women’s World Cup trophy after a long wait in Dubai later in the evening.

   For a serious sporting nation like New Zealand, their biggest highs so far have been in the rugby arena for the All Blacks or the Americas Cup in sailing for Emirates Team New Zealand. The big prizes in cricket had eluded them time and again despite the teams’ consistency in all formats -  with the most agonising one of them being finishing runners-up on boundary count against England in the 2019 final at the Lord’s.

  The few silver lining for them lay in Chris Cairns heroics in the erstwhile 2000 Mini World Cup - their biggest moment in white ball cricket - while Kane Williamson’s men had defeated India to win the 2021 World Test Championship final. However, Sophie Devine’s bunch of resolute White Ferns finally ended a jinx to defend a total of 158 against South Africa and have the last laugh in the Women’s T20 Cup final.

So-near-yet-so-far

Young Amelie Kerr stood out for the new champions with an allround show to win the Player of the Tournament award, but it was a rather emotional triumph for their golden generation of opener Suzie Bates (37 years), Devine (35) and seamer Lea Tahuhu (34). Skipper Devine, for whom this was the last game in a Kiwi shirt, is no stranger to so-near-yet-so-far episodes having they lost the 2010 final to Australia by just three runs apart from losing to England in the 2009 championship game.

 ‘’I started to dream last night about what it feels to hold the trophy with this team, didn’t want to get too ahead of us. This group, Suze and Lea, and for New Zealand, it had been a long time. The great thing about this group is we know what we have been trying to achieve in the last 15,18, 24 months,’’ Devine said later.

The men’s team, often regarded as the ‘second favourite’ of the Indian fans after their own side, completed a major turnaround in quick time after a 2-0 embarrassment against a resurgent Sri Lanka at the latter’s backyard. The critics were quick to pan the Kiwis as a team good enough only in their familiar conditions – and truth be told, their fast bowlers set it up in the first session of play on Thursday itself when India were reduced to 34 for six and then being shot out for their lowest total at home.

The significance of the feat can be gauged from the fact that the last time New Zealanders could pull off a win on Indian soil belonged to a different era with John Wright and Dilip Vengsarkar as the rival captains when the former’s side registered  a 136-run win at the Wankhede. What’s more, they became only the third team in Test cricket after Australia and England to secure a win over India at home in the past decade.

The contribution of Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke, who claimed eight and seven wickets, respectively, in the match deserves all the praise – it was Player of the Match Rachin Ravindra who grabbed most of the eyeballs in his favourite city Bengaluru. There was enough planning involved behind the surprising ease with which the 24-year-old handled the decorated Indian spin attack – he had parked himself in the Chennai Super Kings Academy in Chennai (his IPL team) since September for valuable practice sessions.  

Skipper Tom Latham summed up Rachin’s contribution, especially during the small but tricky chase on Sunday: ‘’I think the way he calmed the dressing room with his composure out there for a young guy in his ninth or 10^th Test to play in that fashion in exciting. We’ve seen the talent that he’s got over the past 12 months. Happy he’s on our side.’’