Rohit Sharma’s men under immense pressure less than three weeks away from Border-Gavaskar Trophy beginning after slumping to rare home series sweep

India will arrive on Australian shores fresh off one of their most humiliating defeats after New Zealand pulled off an astonishing 3-0 series sweep in Mumbai.

The batting woes of leading lights Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continued as the inspired Kiwis rolled the hosts in the fourth innings for just 121, 25 runs shy of their target at the famed Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai-born Ajaz Patel was NZ’s hero. The left-arm spinner’s 11th wicket of the match sealed what is being hailed as the Black Caps’ greatest Test series victory of all time.

After more failures from captain Rohit (11) and star bat Kohli (1), India’s hopes had hinged on the genius of Rishabh Pant, who played a blinding hand of 64 from 57 balls on a vicious pitch.

But a controversial DRS bat-pad call saw the end of the left-hander having been the only batter to pass 12, consigning India to just their third home Test series defeat this century.

It leaves India under immense pressure ahead of their Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign that begins in less than three weeks’ time in Perth.

Lynchpins Rohit (93 runs in six innings) and Virat (91 from six innings) both struggled mightily against Tom Latham’s men and will be searching for form when they arrive down under.

One of their most important bowlers, Mohammad Shami, is out with injury for the five-Test campaign.

The silver lining is Pant, who looks to be back to his best following his comeback from a horrific car crash. The wicketkeeper spearheaded India’s win at the Gabba in 2021 that marked their second straight series win in Australia.

The last time India were blanked at home was in 2000, in a two-match series against South Africa.

With his side chasing 147, Rohit threw the first punch by stepping out of his crease to hit Matt Henry for a four in the opening over, but the fell for 11 after a rash shot against the same bowler.

Patel made it two wickets in two overs when Shubman Gill, who had scored a splendid 90 in the first innings, left a ball that crashed into the stumps and departed for just one run.

Kohli did not last long, edging Patel to slip on one to leave India in real trouble at 3-18 .The crowd fell silent again when Yashasvi Jaiswal was trapped lbw for five by Glenn Phillips and Sarfaraz Khan hit a full toss from Patel straight to Rachin Ravindra in the deep on one.

Ravindra Jadeja steadied the ship alongside Pant in a 42-run stand, but a stunning catch by Will Young meant India were on the ropes at 6-71.

Patel dismissed Pant following a New Zealand review after lunch, although the batter appeared to suggest he had not made contact with the ball before it was caught.

The runs dried up after that and India collapsed in a heap.

The tourists won the opening match in Bengaluru by eight wickets for their first Test victory in India in 36 years, then wrapped up the series with a 113-run win in Pune.

New Zealand’s maiden series triumph in India going back to 1955 also snapped the hosts’ home streak of 18 straight series triumphs since a 2-1 loss to England in 2012.

India will begin their preparations down under with a series of training sessions in Perth, while their A side has a four-day match at the MCG next week after losing their first game to Australia in Mackay.

– with Reuters

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

Australia squad: TBC

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

First Test: November 22-26: Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT