Player of the Match
Player of the Match

5.10pm Phew. That's all from my aching fingers. Time to rest them and prevent (or postpone) the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. Hope you enjoyed this Test match, I certainly enjoyed bringing it to you. Until next time, goodbye!

5.00pm Presentation time. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the 'Bankable player of the match, so I assume he's not the Man of the Match. That award goes to Wriddhiman Saha.

"I'm very happy for winning the series and getting my first man of the match," Saha says. "My teammmates and the crowd supported me a lot. Not much pressure. I'm just going in to bat, defending the good balls, rotating the strike, and putting the bad ball away to the boundary. The West Indies hundred boosted my confidence, but I didn't score much in Kanpur, that's why I took my time in the initial few balls. I just did my job behind the stumps, nothing much. I just keep watching the ball till the last, and soft hands, that's it."

Ross Taylor: "Very impressive, the way the bowlers got stuck in in hot, humid conditions, we put India under pressure, but credit to them for withstanding it, Saha in both innings. To be honest, we thought the pitch would be different. A good cricket wicket, it's just been relaid, and is going to get better and better. I guess anytime you have a 112-run deficit, you're always under pressure. We got some early wickets, but the partnership between Saha and Rohit took it away from us. I thought Tom Latham was outstanding today. Never been to Indore before, it will be interesting to see what the wicket will be like. Good to see Kane Williamson at the ground today, still a bit pale, but knowing him, he'll be back in the nets tomorrow."

Virat Kohli: "Lovely Test match, a brilliant Test wicket, apart from the variable bounce here and there, it will get better and better. Those extra runs in the end, Saha, and Bhuvi and Shami contributing in the end, was crucial. Saha was brilliant, he's the best keeper in the country, he's doing a great job in Test cricket. That hundred in West Indies really improved his confidence, he understands how to bat with the tail now. First innings, we understood we threw it away with a few loose shots, second innings the New Zealand bowlers really put us under pressure. Really happy for Rohit as well, stuck it out, handled the pressure really well, and you know his love affair with Eden. More than anything, the crowd helped us pick up those wickets today. Especially someone like Shami, running in, it makes a big difference to a bowler's mindset. Our objective is to keep playing consistent cricket, having rankings and getting to number one and dropping it is not in our hands, but with this long season, it's in our control in my opinion."

James: "New Zealand's problem seems to be their batting. They've only got past 250 once, and 401 for 2 innings won't win many tests in India."

Murli: "The disappointment in this series so far is Ross Taylor. His under performance is hurting Kiwis more than anyone/anything else. He is the difference between the two teams so far. But well played Kiwis. Great competitors. The scoreline does not justify their performance."

Ashok Datti: "Indian Pacers : 12(6+6) & Indian Spinners: 8 (4+4). NZ Pacers: 14 (5+6+3) & NZ Spinners : 6(4+2) Looks like a good pitch."

Pradeep: "Out of 40 wickets 26 for Seamers, completely opposite from the Match Preview. Very good performance from bowlers. So only issue with Indian Team is their Top order need to be consistent. They definitely deserves 1st Rank after this match :)"

Pallav: "From 103-1 to 197 all out, I think 350+ was too much to chase and without Williamson their batting struggled, but I think credit goes to Indian bowlers to keep focusing and always looking for wicket. We are Numero UNO!"

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: "In India we generally don't get these kinds of wickets. When you get one, you just try to make the most of it. When you contribute to a win, it's something special for you. Thanks to physio and trainer, they worked hard with me [on ankle injury]. Shami is the most lazy person in the team, but when he's on the field he always gives it 100%. It's a sweet victory, because you don't generally get these sorts of wickets [in India] which help seamers."

4.47pm Each of the four Indian bowlers has looked like taking wickets in this innings, and right through this match. Three each to Shami, Ashwin and Jadeja, and one to Bhuvneshwar, who got five in the first innings. It means New Zealand were always under pressure, and even though they began well, there was always the danger of a collapse once India broke into the middle and lower order. India climb to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings, and they've done it with a superb all-round performance on a tricky pitch that gave New Zealand's bowlers as much assistance as it did theirs.

81.1
W
Mohammed Shami to Boult, OUT, bouncer, and Boult backs away from the line and gives it an almighty heave. Top-edges it high in the air, and Vijay moves backwards and to his right from first slip, calling "mine", loudly, and completes a commanding Indian performance

TA Boult c Vijay b Mohammed Shami 4 (21m 14b 0x4 0x6) SR: 28.57

Light getting a bit murky now.

END OF OVER:
81 | 5 Runs | NZ: 197/9

  • Neil Wagner5 (43b)
  • Trent Boult4 (13b)
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar12-4-28-1
  • Mohammed Shami18-5-46-2
80.6
0
Kumar to Wagner, no run, ooh, this one is much closer to off stump, opens up Wagner as he defends from the crease, and beats his edge
80.5
0
Kumar to Wagner, no run, outswinger to the left-hander from around the wicket, starts too wide to make Wagner play
80.4
1
Kumar to Boult, 1 run, back of a length, swinging in towards leg stump. Boult walks across the crease, exposes his leg stump, and clips it to the right of short leg, plays the shot with his front leg in the air. That is so typically Boult

Boult on strike. Bhuvneshwar back over the wicket, and short leg comes in.

80.3
1
Kumar to Wagner, 1 run, inswinger, starts from a fifth-stump line, presses forward and pokes towards deep point, Shami, who runs to his left and keeps it down to one run

Around the wicket now, to Wagner.

80.2
2
Kumar to Wagner, 2 runs, full, swings in towards off stump, Looks to play down the ground and it runs off the inside half of the bat through square leg
80.1
1
Kumar to Boult, 1 run, full inswinger on middle, clipped to the right of midwicket

Second new-ball is due now. They've taken it, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar comes on

END OF OVER:
80 | (maiden) | NZ: 192/9

  • Neil Wagner2 (39b)
  • Trent Boult2 (11b)
  • Mohammed Shami18-5-46-2
  • Ravindra Jadeja20-3-41-3
79.6
0
Mohammed Shami to Wagner, no run, fullish, close to off, defended to mid-off
79.5
0
Mohammed Shami to Wagner, no run, and again, angles in and moves away. The line is straighter, and Wagner, looking to defend down the pitch, gets a thickish edge into the point region
79.4
0
Mohammed Shami to Wagner, no run, now he finds the edge, again it straightens from a good length outside off. Defends with fairly soft hands, so it falls short of Rahane at wide second slip
79.3
0
Mohammed Shami to Wagner, no run, wow. Length ball, angling in and straightening in the corridor. Beats Wagner's defensive prod
79.2
0
Mohammed Shami to Wagner, no run, full-toss outside off, pushed to short cover

Success at home

11-0

India's record in the last 12 Tests at home - their best win-loss record in a sequence of 12 consecutive Tests at home.

LBWs galore

13

The previous most LBW dismissals in a Test in India - in the Ahmedabad Test involving SA in 1996-97. Ross Taylor's dismissal in NZ's inns was the 14th of this Test.

A rare effort by Latham

4

No. of visiting openers to hit a fourth-innings fifty at Eden Gardens before Tom Latham. The previous one was by Shahid Afridi in 2005.

Only the 4th

3

No. of India keepers before Wriddhiman Saha to get two fifty-plus scores in a Test. MS Dhoni (4 times), Farokh Engineer and Dilawar Hussain (also at Eden Gardens)

Dominant seventh-wicket

4

No. of century stands India for the 7th wkt in their last 5 Tests in Kolkata, including this. Prev 3: MSD-Laxman 259* v SA, MSD-Laxman 224 v WI, Rohit-Ashwin 280 v WI.

Winning position?

233

Highest 4th inns total by a visiting team at Eden Gardens, by Eng in 1961-62. India's lead has already gone past 250.

Henry's double

6

No. of NZ fast bowlers to take 3 or more wkts in both inns of a Test India, including Matt Henry in this Test. Last to do was Tuffey in Mohali in 2003-04.

Openers fail

2006

Last time Ind openers aggregated fewer runs in both inns of a home Test, than 34 in this Test - 33 runs vs Eng at Wankhede in 2005-06.

Long time ago

2008

Last time Ind fast bowlers took 8 or more wkts in an inns at home, before this - vs Aus in Bangalore (9 wkts).

Pacers' glory

8

No. of wickets by India fast bowlers in the first inns of this Test - joint-most by them in an Eden Gardens Tests. They had taken 8 wkts v Pak 1986-87 and v SA 1996-97.

Jeetan's highest

27*

Previous highest score for Jeetan Patel in Tests, which came in Cape Town in 2005-06. He has gone past that in his first inns after making comeback.

Top-order crumble

15

Runs accumulated by NZ's top-3 in this inns, is the second-lowest for them against India in first inns of Tests. Lowest: 14 runs in Ahmedabad in 2003-04.