When India landed in New Zealand for their recently concluded tour, it was expected that it will be a good contest between Kiwis pace battery and famed Indian batting.

Team India started the tour on a promising note as they whitewashed the Kiwis 5-0 in the T20I series — they are the first to do so.

But then New Zealand bounced back, clean swept India in ODIs (3-0) and then in Tests (2-0).

It was New Zealand’s sixth straight Test series win at home. Kiwis have been unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests — they won nine of them.

India had arrived in New Zealand unbeaten in seven matches in the Test Championship and atop the standings. New Zealand had come from Australia where they were crushed (3-0) in the Test series.

The Indian team is almost always unbeatable on their home ground, but their record in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) is unimpressive.

India under the leadership of Virat Kohli have lost Test series in South Africa, England and New Zealand.

With this series win, New Zealand reached No 2 position in the Test rankings with 120 points.

Despite the series defeat, India remain on top of the Test Championship table with 360 points. Australia are behind them with 296 points and New Zealand are third with 180 points.

On New Zealand surfaces, even more caution is required from batsmen than in Australia or England. That Indian batsmen failed to adjust to the conditions there is borne out from the following statistics: India managed to get past 200 runs only once in four innings — they scored 165, 191, 242 and 124; and only Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara managed more than 100 runs in the series.

It was the second worst series for Kohli as a batsman. Kohli came to New Zealand as the number one Test batsman but after a disappointing performance in the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith. He failed miserably in both Tests, managing just 2, 19, 3 and 14, totaling 38 runs at an average of 9.50. His worst series was the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home in 2016-17, when he averaged 9.20 with 46 runs in five innings.

Kohli has now gone three ODI series in a row without a hundred. He failed to manage a three-figure score in the series played against West Indies, Australia and New Zealand.

After the Test series defeat, the Indian skipper accepted that the batting unit did not perform well. He said the batting unit floundered mentally. “Unfortunately we lost both tosses and were asked to bat first in both Wellington and Christchurch that create the pressure.

“In Tests, we weren’t able to play the cricket we wanted to, we cannot complain about toss as we need to win matches irrespective of the toss result. As an international side, you are expected to understand that,” Kohli said.

“To win series and matches overseas, you need to have a balanced performance with both bat and ball. That was not there,” skipper accepted.

India’s highest score in this series in the four innings was 242. This was their second-lowest highest score in a series of two or more matches. In the 2002-03 series in New Zealand, India’s highest was 161.

No Indian batsman managed a century in the Test series. Mayank Agarwal’s 58 was the highest individual score. The last time no India batsman scored a century in any series was way back in 2002-03 during the tour of New Zealand. After that India played 60 Test series and in every series at least one hundred was scored by an Indian batsman.

It was India’s first whitewash defeat in a series of two or more Tests since 2011-12 when England beat India 4-0. It was also the first whitewash in Tests under Kohli.

New Zealand opener Tom Latham remains the most successful batsman of the series with 122 runs including two fifties, averaging 53.

Mayank was their highest scorer with 102 runs at an average of 25.50.

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson also failed to perform well in the Test series and managed only 97 runs in three innings.

Man-of-the-Series New Zealand’s Tim Southee was the highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps, at an average of 13.14. Jasprit Bumrah took six wickets, averaging 31.66.

India will next take on South Africa in a three-match One-day International series, starting on March 12 in Dharamsala.

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