India whitewashed New Zealand in Test Series

 In a match that saw both sides scrap to the end, Virat Kohli guided India to a tense fourth innings chase, reaching an unbeaten half-century that highlighted its growing stature and gave India a 2-0 sweep against New Zealand M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Kohli shared an unbroken stand of 96 for the sixth wicket with MS Dhoni, who ended the match with a six to bring up a tight five-wicket victory. Kohli heroics, coming after India were in some strife at 166 for 5, meant that he was fired for not less than 50 in the series that ended with an average of 106.

In a match that saw both sides scrap to the end, Virat Kohli guided India to a tense fourth innings chase, reaching an unbeaten half-century that highlighted its growing stature and gave India a 2-0 sweep against New Zealand M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Kohli shared an unbroken stand of 96 for the sixth wicket with MS Dhoni, who ended the match with a six to bring up a tight five-wicket victory. Kohli heroics, coming after India were in some strife at 166 for 5, meant that he was fired for not less than 50 in the series that ended with an average of 106.India was left with a chase of 261 after last-wicket pair took New Zealand only 17 minutes on the fourth morning. New Zealand were bowled out for 248 when Jeetan Patel claimed Zaheer Khan caught behind. Rightly, Patel was not happy with the decision, as replays showed that there was no daylight between bat and ball. He did, however, low in the record books as the 100th test wicket Zaheer in India.Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir came out to begin pursuit of India, amid a growing stream of questions on the test form. For nearly an hour, held at bay those questions attacking, positive cricket neutralized the threat of the ball again and got India off to a flying start.They were helped by the fact that New Zealand Pacers not bowl with precision and venom the first innings. Anything out of the range of strain, crashed through the offside, and half volleys on leg-trunk skillfully cut and lit.Gambhir footwork was much quieter, because it was his departure from the balls outside off-stump, while Sehwag had the crowd in ecstasy with their time.However, their dominance did not last long. Ross Taylor threw the ball to Patel, and though Patel was hit for a six and a four by Sehwag, he had the last word. Sehwag danced on the track and completely missed the ball, which duly crashed into the stumps. It was a terrible blow, and although 38 out of 33 balls Sehwag gave India a good platform of 77, he was guilty of pulling a chance to get even more.Patel seems to have been brought for the sole purpose of tempting Sehwag, because after bowling the 12th over, which only came back into the attack at age 30.To then Gambhir also fell to a catch in the stands, with Trent Boult the wicket-taker. In the 20 balls he faced after the departure of Sehwag, Gambhir scored a run, and perhaps the pressure of being stifled led him to delve away from his body outside the off-stump in what has become a normal way dismissal. That Gambhir tried to dab a ball to third man with a drawstring filled only served to illustrate the recklessness of injection.India has gone from 77 for no loss to 83 for two and a half-order and did not have the reassuring faces of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid.Sachin Tendulkar and Cheteshwar Pujara stalled further incursions by the construction of a stand that put a premium on caution in the output. Tendulkar, facing a battle as his own, was nothing when India went to lunch at 88 for 2, but began to find his rhythm in the afternoon session.Pujara, who were dismissed in the first innings of engagement, was subjected to a barrage of short-pitched bowling. Pujara often face the Pacers with one leg at a time and a place to fine leg in place.Pujara not always convincing against the short stuff, it pings the helmet once and stooping a little late in some of the bumper better directed at Tim Southee. In general, however, defended him pretty well, and it was not nailed to the back foot defensive, even performing a magnificent pull shot hit.Pujara Tendulkar and two had begun to look more comfortable, and in a more Southee, delicious Tendulkar hit two shots - one through the covers, the last one off cliff - when play was stopped due to rain.It was just a drizzle, but with dark clouds above, the covers came on and was unemployed for almost an hour. From the point of view of the considerable crowd Monday at the stadium, the rain had displayed a remarkable lack of programming that Pujara and Tendulkar had begun to show.The rain meant the tea is taken early, but more importantly, it meant the momentum of India stopped just when they were building. When players turned out, disaster struck with Pujara and Tendulkar quickly fall.Tendulkar was run almost identically to the first innings, playing across the line and losing a ball of Southee, while Patel Pujara fell, pushing a ball that turned more than I thought, took the inside edge and launched to Daniel Flynn to make a good game.When Suresh Raina Patel lost his stumps to a rush of blood to step on the track, India were against it at 166 for 5. Another wicket at that stage would probably have resulted in another victory Zealand, but Kohli and Dhoni was adamant.Dhoni did not allow any scoring opportunity slip while Kohli seemed to continue from where he left off in the first innings, delivering stunning pictures. Not too slowly, but surely, the duo carved by fate, and pushed Taylor on the defensive.While Dhoni stayed behind and went well forward, while Kohli was his usual compact car, dotted with touches of 'V'. Aiming suddenly a stone's throw away, both exploded in a flurry of boundaries, the end comes with more than a day to spare. It was fitting that it was MS Dhoni that the winning shot, which gave him 14 wins as captain on Indian soil - most by any Indian captain in history.

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