India vs New Zealand 3rd Test: Preview and Predictions

Can India avoid a white-wash?

One of India’s poorest home performances in the red-ball format in the last two decades has seen New Zealand lock in their first Test series win in India and the Men in Blue lose their first home Test series in 12 years!

Rohit Sharma’s boys head to Mumbai to avoid further embarrassment and a complete white-wash and before the action kicks off at the Wankhede, here’s our match preview and predictions.

Third Test | New Zealand tour of India 2024 | 09:30 IST, November 1

It’s been a horror batting performance by Rohit Sharma’s squad as the Indian batting lineup has fallen prey to the spinning ball. Apart from the second innings in Bengaluru, the Indian lineup has failed to cross 250 in any other three other innings they have batted in. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma have crossed 50 just once and a strong opening platform is something that the Indian team will be looking for. The middle order is another big point of concern for the team management, with the likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan all looking out of place against the moving or turning ball. 

India lacks an anchor in their batting line-up and it is clearly showing with the way the likes of Kohli, KL Rahul approach their innings. With the ball though, Indian were solid and Washington Sundar repaid his faith to the management for selecting him for the second Test with an 11-wicket haul. It was all the spinners in the second Test, taking all 20 wickets and India will be hoping for more of the same, although Bumrah going wicketless would be something to keep an eye on. 

The visitors on the other side, have been clinical in all departments. Tom Latham has been leading from the front and the likes of Devon Conway, Will Young and Rachin Ravindra have all been amongst the runs while William O’Rourke, Matt Henry and Tim Southee have been leading with the new ball but it has been Mitchell Santner who has been the chief wrecker for the Kiwis. Santner picked up 13 wickets in the second Test and the Indian batters just had no answer to him and moving to Wankhede, the likes of Santner, Philips will be crucial for the visitors again. 

Taking place in Wankhede, it means that we should be in for plenty of runs with the bowlers coming into play once again, the seamers will be key early on before the spinners take over towards the business end of the Test. While they have been very ordinary in the first two games, expect India to avoid a drubbing at home and end the series on a high.

Fantasy XI: Rohit Sharma, Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Virat Kohli, Shubhman Gill, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajaz Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Santner

Venue: Mumbai

Winners Prediction: India