New Zealand scales their cricket's Mt. Everest

The idea that this New Zealand side without Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Ross Taylor, and BJ Watling—however far you want to go back—were going to be anything more than food to an Indian team with a world record home streak was absurd. And it wasn't even absurd, because no one was thinking of it.

New Zealand won the first Test with some help from an odd Bengaluru pitch, and we said that was one of the biggest upsets in modern cricket history. Then they won again in Pune, and we said that one of the biggest upsets in modern cricket history. In the third match, they defended 147 on the third morning, which is also one of the biggest upsets in modern Test cricket history.

All three at the same time. No matter how you look at this, this is one of the least likely Test results we have ever seen in our sport. New Zealand beat India, the weather and their entire history with a team whose second spinner was a former keeper. New Zealand beat everything here.

They had never won a three Test series 3-0. This is the time that they chose to do it. The first ever Blackcap-wash. Three zero. Job done.

Let's start with India. They did not lose at home for 4331 days. This was not even the strongest New Zealand side that they have played at home during that period. Yet, they lost not one, not two, but three Tests. If someone said there was a bit of rain around or if there was a flat pitch, and New Zealand won the series 1-0, I think one could mentally understand that.

But India went from 4000 days of dominance to losing 3-0. If I told you before the start of the series that New Zealand would bowl India out for 46, Mitchell Santner would take a ten-wicket haul, and Ajaz Patel would do the same, you still wouldn't think it was likely that New Zealand would win 3-0.

We have never seen another side win 18 series in a row at home. Of course, there are more wins and fewer draws now, which means there aren't as many drawn series now compared to when West Indies and Australia were dominant. But to win—not draw—win 18 consecutive Test series at home in the history of our game has always been incredibly hard.

And for New Zealand, just winning has always been hard in Test cricket. Part of the reason is they don't even play that much Test cricket. They've only played 94 full Test series with three or more matches in them. Of recent times, a three Test series for New Zealand is like a luxury. It's almost a surprise when they get to play a team who actually wants to play them that many times.

I thought Afghanistan had a good chance of beating New Zealand, had it not rained for an hour on one day. After that, we never saw any cricket. The team was okay at times against Sri Lanka and had some chances, but kept giving them away. Then they came to India, where they are bad. Of the regular Test nations over the last 50 to 70 years, they've been the worst when it comes to playing in India.

They had two Test wins in India before this series. This means they surpass their entire previous history in India in one series.

The stupid numbers just keep going. What about the fact that Ajaz Patel has never taken a wicket in New Zealand and now has all of these wickets away from home? Or what about the fact that he is one of the world's greatest in Wankhede, and just normal otherwise?

Mitchell Santner came into a Test series where he wasn't even seen as a genuine first-choice bowler. He had a first-class bowling average of 42, and he then took 13 wickets in a game to win a Test against India.

And of course, if we're just looking at numbers, how about that 46 all out? Yes, everything fell perfectly into place for New Zealand on that first morning. Tom Latham said he would have batted. Thankfully for New Zealand, he didn't. Almost every catch was taken and they got some lucky wickets.

But maybe defending 147—which is the perfect break in snooker—was more impressive. Here, you had a situation where one partnership was probably going to be enough to just break this open for India. New Zealand never let that happen.

But as Sarfaraz Khan came out, he looked like all of India. He was almost translucent with pain, shock and torment. And how could he not be? Imagine the incredibly confident Sarfaraz Khan thinking at any stage that he was going to be walking into a Test match with India in all sorts of trouble in a relatively easy-looking chase with his team already 2-0 down, trying to stop a Blackcap-wash. No one would've thought that, certainly not Sarfaraz Khan. But New Zealand did it again.

And I just want to throw one last number at you here—94. That is the number of times New Zealand have played in three Tests or more in a series. Most of them are three Test series, but there are a few four and five match series as well.

Yet at no time in their entire history, have they ever won three. This is not about numbers. This is really more about a moment. I want to try and put all this in context historically.

The 1949 side is famous within New Zealand, because it went to England and all it wanted to do was prove that they were too good to play only three-day matches. So, they went out of their way to draw all the matches. During the series, they played such good cricket that England actually offered them extra days on the end of their matches.

They had their first ever Test series win in 1969, playing in Pakistan. Another incredibly famous moment was the 2000 Women's World Cup. They defeated India in the final to win the World Test Championship in 2021. In the last couple of weeks, the New Zealand women won another World Cup. Any of these moments on their own could be seen as the greatest within New Zealand cricket history.

But just think about the last month alone. New Zealand win a World Cup and defeat India to stop them on their incredible run. And when that wasn't good enough, they decided to also Blackcap-wash them. This is the greatest month in New Zealand cricket history.

New Zealand have never won 3-0 in a Test series before. This time they decided to do it when their greatest ever batter was out. They had just had their skipper stand down. Their best bowler in the first match got injured. Their best bowler in the second game also got injured. And then to finish it off, they had to defend only 147 against India, in India, on a spinning pitch. And they did it with a wicketkeeper almost taking a hat-trick for them.

In 2015, when they had that incredible World Cup, I said that that was their greatest almost. Well, how about this? They just got their personal Mount Everest and cricket’s Mount Everest in one series. And again, to use that same word, but in a very different context. They just scaled cricket's Mount Everest, almost accidentally.