Tom Latham's Honest Reaction To New Zealand Beating India 3-0 In Test Series, Says, 'We Could Have Only Dreamt'

IND vs NZ, 3rd Test: New Zealand skipper Tom Latham had a dream run in his first series as a full-time captain. He described this historic series win as 'one of their greatest victories in the history of their cricket'. He reckoned that this series win will take some time to sink in, especially when they reach their home and celebrate it with their families. New Zealand scripted history by defeating India 3-0 in this Test series. They also became the first team in 12 years to defeat India in the longest format in their backyard.

"It's been a massive achievement, after the first (Test) it was pretty special; the second one to win a series was even more special. We spoke about coming here and trying to adapt as much as we can and to be in this position (of winning) 3-0, it's certainly a series that I'll never forget. We'll celebrate as a group together tonight and the next couple of days before we head home. It's certainly been an amazing series to be a part of... It will sink in a little bit more when we get home and once the dust settles a little bit," Latham told reporters in the post-match press conference.

New Zealand created history

The Tom Latham-led side haven't won a single Test match of the 19 matches that they have played in India till now since 1988. But now they can go back home with heads held high and that too a clean sweep in India, a feat that many teams have failed to achieve in the last 10 years.

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"It's a great moment for New Zealand cricket, probably one of New Zealand cricket's greatest series wins," he revealed.

Latham also emphasized how important it was to win tosses in two Test matches and the role it played in helping them script history.

"We managed to fall on the right side of a couple of tosses and in doing that we managed to put runs on the board in the last couple of games. When you're chasing scores, from our point of view, runs on the board are important and some of these surfaces that we've played on have been hard and they certainly haven't got easier from a batting point of view," he said.

The game wasn't over till Rishabh was there

He admitted that up until Rishabh Pant was batting, they were nowhere close to winning the match.

"With Rishabh still there, I certainly didn't believe that the game was over. They (India) have match-winners throughout their side and they've been successful playing the way that they've been playing for a long period," he concluded.

They outfoxed a brilliant Rishabh Pant knock and scripted history. While defending a respectable target of 146 runs, Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips shared nine wickets amongst them, where Pant's gritty knock of 64 runs off 57 balls helped the hosts bounce back from 29/5 to 106/6. But Ajaz put out his best foot forward by taking an 11-fer and thus became the overseas bowler on one venue in India.