MUMBAI, – India will look to avoid a rare series whitewash at home when they take on New Zealand in the third and final Test of the series in Mumbai on Friday, and head coach Gautam Gambhir said his team must rise to the challenge.

New Zealand tormented the hosts with pace and beat them by eight wickets in Bengaluru for their first Test win in India for 36 years. They wrapped up the series in Pune with a 113-run win set by the spinners.

It was New Zealand’s first series win in India since 1955 and the Black Caps snapped the home run of 18 consecutive series triumphs since losing 2-1 to England 12 years ago.

The last time India were eliminated in a home series was in 2000, when they lost 2-0 to South Africa, and Gambhir said his batsmen needed to adjust ahead of next month’s tour of Australia , where they will play five tests.

“We should be able to adapt. We should be a team that can score 400 a day if we have to get a result and be able to bat for two days as well. That’s growth and that’s what Test cricket is about,”, Gambhir told reporters on Thursday.

“Test cricket cannot be played in one way because it is about adaptability, looking at the situation and playing according to the situation and more importantly it is about playing sessions.

“If we can start learning to play sessions, with the quality we have in our batting line-up, I think if we play 4-1/2 sessions we’ll have a lot of runs on the board.”

Mitchell Santner’s 13-wicket haul in Pune exposed India’s frailties against the bowling.

“Sometimes you have to hand it to the opponents. I think Mitchell Santner was outstanding in the last game. We will continue to work hard and improve. The boys are putting in the hard work in the nets,” Gambhir added.

“At the end of the day it’s the results that matter when you’re playing international cricket, but I don’t think our skills against spin have really gone down.

“It’s about working hard and getting better.”

New Zealand captain Tom Latham said the team was looking forward to the opportunity for a sweep.

“We’ve done a lot of good things in the last couple of weeks but I think for us every Test match you go in with a focus on trying to win key moments, not necessarily focusing on the result,” Latham said. .

“This is the result of putting things together back to back, good sessions back to back. This is a different pitch and these are different conditions.”

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