‘Great moment’ for New Zealand cricket, says Latham

New Zealand captain Tom Latham on Sunday said his team’s 3-0 Test sweep in India was one of the “greatest series wins” for the country.

The Black Caps won the third Test by 25 runs on Sunday at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to hand India only their second series whitewash at home.

New Zealand – cricket’s perennial underdogs — turned around their fortunes from a 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka in September to make India suffer their first Test series loss at home in 12 years.

“It’s obviously a great moment for New Zealand cricket, probably one of New Zealand cricket’s greatest series wins I think,” said Latham.

“Again, all we can do is keep playing cricket and keep playing our brand of cricket. We’ve felt a lot of support over the last couple of weeks, which is really special.”

New Zealand host England for three Tests starting November 28 in Christchurch followed by matches in Wellington and Hamilton.

Latham said: “We’ve got three more big games back home. We’ve got sell-out crowds in a couple of the games, which is all you can ask for from a cricketer’s point of view.”

Mumbai-born New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel stood out in the final Test with a match-haul of 11 wickets with his left-arm spin.

He took five in the first innings and then six to help bowl out India for 121 in their chase of 147 and Latham praised his match-winner as “fantastic”.