Santner heroics as New Zealand end India's 12-year unbeaten run in home Tests


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New Zealand made history with their first Test series triumph in India as spinner Mitchell Santner's heroic performance delivered a 113-run win in the second Test on Saturday.

The Black Caps’ victory gives them an unassailable 2-0 lead and condemns India to their first home Test series defeat for 12 years.

New Zealand bowled out the hosts for 245 in their chase of 359 on day three in Pune, with Santner taking 6-104 – and 13 wickets in the match.

It marks India's first Test series defeat at home since December 2012, when Alastair Cook's England beat them 2-1.

Santner, who's 7-53 in India's first innings of 156 set up the famous win, rattled the Indian chase with six wickets on a turning pitch and trumped the hosts at their own spin game.

The left-hander bowled unchanged from one end, delivering 29 consecutive overs.

Ajaz Patel took the final two wickets and ended Ravindra Jadeja's resistance on 42 when the batsmen holed out in the deep and New Zealand celebrated to pin drop silence from the stands.

Before Saturday, a visiting New Zealand team had never won a Test series in India dating back to their first trip in 1955.

India bowled out New Zealand for 255 inside the first hour of play and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in his 65-ball 77 came out attacking to raise hopes of a miracle.

India lost skipper Rohit Sharma for eight but raced to 81-1 at lunch in 12 overs.

Santner took down Shubman Gill for 23 soon after the break to end a 62-run second-wicket stand with the left-handed Jaiswal, who powered on after reaching his fifty.

The in-form spinner finally had Jaiswal caught at slip, ran out Rishabh Pant for a duck and trapped Virat Kohli lbw, dousing India's chances.

Glenn Phillips chipped in with the wicket of Washington Sundar for 21.

India spinners Sundar and Jadeja shared seven wickets between them in the second New Zealand innings, with Jadeja claiming three of the five to fall on Saturday morning.

Sundar, a lanky off-spinner, returned to the Indian Test team after more than three years and took 7-59.

New Zealand made 259 in their first innings riding on knocks from Devon Conway (76) and Rachin Ravindra (65) before Santner took charge.

New Zealand have now won four Tests in India after their opening triumph was the first on Indian soil since 1988.

The series victory comes after New Zealand's recent 2-0 loss in Sri Lanka on a sub-continent tour, which began with a washed out Test against Afghanistan near New Delhi.

Tim Southee stepped down after the Sri Lanka defeat and Tom Latham took over as Test captain.

If you go

Flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.

The stay

Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.

Dubai World Cup factbox

Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)

Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)

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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers

1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Updated: October 26, 2024, 12:07 PM