Black Caps v India: Kiwi success is a reminder of how much better the Indians should be - Editorial

Black Caps Tim Southee, Tom Blundell and Ajaz Patel celebrate another wicket against India, in Bengaluru. Photo / Photosport

Editorial

EDITORIAL

In the sporting stratosphere of globally significant athletes, the Indian men’s cricket team stand among the biggest disappointments.

New Zealanders place great stead in “punching above our weight”. In cultural spheres, sporting codes and even academic and political realms, we have exerted far greater influence – and achieved far greater things – than a nation of our size should reasonably manage.

Over the years, the term “punching above our weight” has gone from being an apt description of our sporting sides, to an over-used cliché and (inevitably) a bit of an ironic joke. But the spirit of the term has remained constant: We expect to be high on the Olympic medal table; we expect the All Blacks to crush everyone; we expect our sailors to be better than the rest.

In India, their paramount sporting export is the national men’s cricket team. This side of superstars could be said to punch well under its weight.

The incredible first day of action in the test at Bengalaru, during which the hosts were bundled out for just 46 runs over winning the toss, marks another high point in the Black Caps’ uncanny run of unsettling the Indian elephant.

With its vast population and a wild national passion for the sport, India should have been dead-set favourites and likely victors in every ODI and T20 World Cup there’s ever been. They should have smeared the Black Caps inside three days in the first World Test Championship final, regardless of the weather. The well-resourced Australian and English teams should be roadkill to the Indian men.

Such is the stunning population advantage of India that they should enter every match abounding in confidence. Kiwis who travel through India tell stories of pick-up cricket matches where the stunning talent on show is far beyond anything you’re likely to encounter in a New Zealand park.

Imagine how good the All Blacks would be if rather than selecting from among five million citizens, we could chose a side from 1.4 billion contenders.

That’s the advantage the Indian cricket team possess in talent.

In population terms – and in the brutal analytic of raw talent – the Black Caps magical victory in the 2021 WTC final is the equivalent of Eketāhuna Rugby Football Club beating the 1980s Auckland team at Eden Park, to seize the Ranfurly Shield. Knocking them over in the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinals would be the Eketāhuna lads beating the blue-and-whites in a seven-a-side tournament for good measure.

It simply shouldn’t happen. New Zealand should be unable to look India in the eye at cricket. Yet on the big occasions we certainly do. Kiwi fans take pleasure from knowing that our member of batting’s “Fab Four”, Kane Williamson, has a better average (54.5) than India’s Virat Kohli (48.7).

This is not to say that India are not a very good cricket team. They are currently second in international cricket’s test rankings and are well-placed to make their third consecutive WTC final. They made the final of a home ODI world cup last year and are the current champions at the T20 world cup (an event that seems to happen almost fortnightly).

Such is the nature of newspaper publishing that by the time this editorial is read, the Indians might have rolled the Black Caps for less than 200 runs and set about the path to building a massive total themselves.

They certainly win more against New Zealand than they lose – the wonder is that they lose any at all.