SUNDAY SPECIAL: The Pune fever dream

A subcontinent stunner (a cricket-only post for $ subscribers).

It’s Mitchell F*&#@ing Santner, that’s who! Getty Images

NZ 259 & 255 (Latham 86); India 156 & 245 (Jaiswal 77; Santner 6-104). NZ won by 113 runs.

There are 42 synonyms for the word “stupendous” and over the next 800 words of this post I’m tempted to use them all.

Tempted, but with great restraint I will avoid most, suffice to say this is a series victory of Brobdingnagian proportions.

1. New Zealand heads to Mumbai with the series already locked up.

Yep, saw that coming.

2. Tom Latham plays one of the most pivotal innings in New Zealand test history after having his technique viciously pulled apart by a no-nothing clown:

Latham keeps missing straight deliveries. Technique has become a dirty word in high-performance cricket and those who mention it are seen as relics from a bygone age. Instead, it’s all about “method” and as long as you trust your method and stick to it, you’ll be fine. For argument’s sake, we’ll call it the Steve Smith Effect.

So without wanting to suggest Luke Ronchi could be doing more as coach on the technical side of the game, it might be worth pointing out that Latham’s habit of defending on the front foot with a bat plane that goes from fourth slip to wide midwicket might not be the best method.

So of course he played the best innings of the match.

3. Mitchell Santner is the dominant figure in the match, running through the vaunted Indian batting lineup not once, but twice.

Ha ha, now I know the past three days were just a fever dream and I’ll wake up tomorrow with a drip in my arm and a posse of medical staff gathered around my bed exchanging worried glances.