India win Test series against Kiwis

India survived a mini collapse to sweep the series against a fighting New Zealand with a five-wicket victory on the penultimate day of the second and final Test in Bangalore on Monday. The hosts slipped from 152-2 to 166-5 before achieving their 261-run target in the final session, thanks to a 96-run stand between man-of-the-match Virat Kohli (51 not out) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (48 not out) under pressure. India won the opening Test by an innings and 115 runs in Hyderabad. New Zealand fought well as they twice neutralised India’s advantage to storm back into the match on a good pitch before Dhoni and Kohli steered their team home, much to the delight of the nearly 15,000 spectators. The Indian captain finished the match with a six over mid-wicket off off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who took three wickets. Dhoni hit two sixes and three fours, while Kohli cracked nine fours. India were 77 without loss after brisk knocks from Virender Sehwag (38) and Gautam Gambhir (34) and then 152-2 following a 69-run stand between Cheteshwar Pujara (48) and Sachin Tendulkar (27) before New Zealand struck back. The tourists came back strongly after tea, which was taken early due to rain, as they dismissed well-set Pujara, Tendulkar and Suresh Raina (0) in the space of 14 runs. Sachin Tendulkar, the world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket with an unprecedented 100 international centuries, Tendulkar finished the series without a half-century in three innings. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with 5-69, his third five-wicket haul in four innings against New Zealand. He was named man of the series.