3 similarities between India's home Test whitewashes against New Zealand 2024 and South Africa 2025

India have had a tough time in home Test matches over the last 15 months. After crushing Bangladesh at home, India have suffered five defeats in seven matches. They lost the three-match series against New Zealand by 0-3 but bounced back with a 2-0 clean-sweep against West Indies.

Many fans expected India to continue their winning momentum when they hosted South Africa for a two-match Test series earlier this month. However, India failed to execute their basics well and lost the series by 0-2 against the reigning world Test champions.

This defeat marks the second time India have been whitewashed in a home Test series in the last two years. While the opponents were different, here's a look at the three coincidences between the two series defeats faced by India.

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#1 India failed to chase a target of less than 150 in both series

In the first Test of the recently-concluded series against South Africa, India got bowled out for 93 runs in the fourth innings while chasing a small target of 124 runs at the Eden Gardens. Despite having the likes of KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the lineup, India did not even manage to touch triple figures.

Similarly, in the third Test of the series against New Zealand, India lost all their wickets for 121 runs in a chase of 147 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Rishabh Pant played an excellent knock of 64 runs in that game, but still India lost by 25 runs eventually.

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#2 An Indian origin left-arm spinner played for the opponent team

India is known for producing quality spin bowlers. Quite a few Indian origin cricketers have even represented other nations at the global stage. Two of those spinners are South Africa's Keshav Maharaj and New Zealand's Ajaz Patel. Keshav's ancestors were from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, whereas Ajaz was born in Mumbai.

Talking about Ajaz's contribution in the Blackcaps' win first, the left-arm spinner was the top wicket-taker for his team with 15 wickets in five innings. Meanwhile, Keshav bagged six wickets in the recent series against India. Both Indian origin spinners wrecked India in home Tests.

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#3 An Indian origin player scored century against India in home Test defeats

In the India vs New Zealand Test series played in 2024, Indian origin all-rounder Rachin Ravindra was the lone centurion for the away team. Playing for New Zealand, Ravindra scored 134 runs in the first innings for the first Test played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

In 2025, Indian origin player Senuran Muthusamy stunned the Indian bowling lineup by displaying solid defense at the ACA Stadium and playing a marathon knock in the middle. Muthusamy spent 299 minutes in the middle, aggregating 109 runs off 206 balls.

Muthusamy was born and brought up in South Africa, but his parents of Indian origin. He also described his upbringing as 'pretty much Indian'. On the other side, Rachin Ravindra was born in New Zealand, but his parents hailed from Bengaluru, India. Incidentally, Ravindra scored a hundred against India in a home Test in Bengaluru last year.