A week after their heroic win in Kanpur, India suffered a nightmarish outing against New Zealand, getting bowled out for 46 on Day 2 of the first Test of a three-match series. India's innings lasted only 31.2 overs on an overcast morning in Bengaluru as the Asian giants registered an unwanted record, slipping to their third-owest total in Test cricket history. It was also India's lowest Test total at home.
New Zealand pacers William O'Rourke and Matt Henry breathed fire after veteran Tim Southee started the collapse, getting the big wicket of India captain Rohit Sharma as early as the opening hour of the day's play. India paid the price for opting to bat under grey skies and on a pitch that remained under the covers for the good part of the last three days due to rain in the city.
There were as many as five ducks in the Indian innings. Virat Kohli, who was surprisingly asked to bat at No. 3, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul and R Ashwin were the batters who did not trouble the scorers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
36-all out vs Australia in Adelaide in 2020
42-all out vs England in London in 1974
46-all out vs New Zealand in Bengaluru in 2024*
58-all out vs Australia in Brisbane in 1947
58-all out vs England in Manchester in 1952
Lowest at home: 75-all out vs West Indies in Delhi in 1987
It was also the lowest Test total in the subcontinent (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh), beating West Indies' 53 vs Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1986.
It's also the lowest Test total on Indian soil, beating New Zealand's 53 against India in 2021 in Mumbai.
India, who were looking set to bulldoze New Zealand after their confidence-boosting 2-0 whitewash of Bangladesh earlier this month, were jolted and given a reality check by the New Zealand pacers, who made the best use of the conditions that resembled the green pitches at home.
None of the Indian batters, barring Rishabh Pant and Yashavi Jaiswal, showed the application to stay in the middle when the going was tough.
"It's a bit worrying," Anil Kumble told the broadcasters, saying he was surprised by the lack of application from the Indian batters.
"It's important that you need to adapt. There's talk about getting wins. Yes, the bowling attack is fantastic. But the batters, you need to think about how to manage in these conditions for India to get to a better situation.
"Today was really disappointing from the Indian batting line-up," he added.
India made tactical blunders. Firstly, they won the toss and missed out on an opportunity to give their fast bowlers a crack at the New Zealand batting unit, which was down on confidence after suffering a 2-0 loss in Sri Lanka last month. Secondly, India sent Virat Kohli at No. 3 in extremely unfriendly conditions for batters, failing to preserve their best batter.
India had the option of using KL Rahul at No. 3, considering how he has opened for India in the past and his familiarity with his home ground in Bengaluru. However, the move to send Kohli at No. 3 failed as the star batter was dismissed for 0 after a troubled stay in the middle.
Sarfaraz Khan, who was sent to bat at No. 3, threw his wicket away while KL Rahul went after a delivery that was bowled down his leg to get dismissed for 0.
All-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin were not able to steady the ship as Henry and O'Rourke were breathing fire on either side of the Lunch break. Both the all-rounders were dismissed for nought as India slipped to 34 for 7.
Pant managed to get to 20, but he was not able to push on and play freely after losing partners at the other end at some pace. The wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed by Hernry after Lunch.
Jasprit Bumrah fell for 1 while Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj resisted the charge. However, Henry got Kuldeep as his fifth victim in the innings as India were bundled out for 46 in 31.2 overs.
