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Writer's pictureVijay Raman

IND vs NZ Tests: Statistical highlights from this 7-decade old rivalry

IND vs NZ Tests: Statistical Highlights in Tests between the two giants of Test cricket over the years. Top run-getter, wicket-takers, century-makers and overall wins by team.


IND vs NZ Tests: Statistical Highlights Walking Wicket (Photo_ ©X_Twitter)
IND vs NZ Tests: India to take on NZ on 16th Oct (Photo: ©X/Twitter)

New Zealand are set to tour India for a three-match Test series for the 13th time in history, continuing their long and storied rivalry. The Kiwis first toured the country for Tests in a five-match series back in 1955. Overall, they have played 36 Test matches in India.


India have dominated the proceedings as expected, winning 17 games and losing just two. In fact, New Zealand’s last of the two wins came in 1988 at Wankhede, where they defeated India by 136 runs.


While the Kiwis drew two Test series in 1969 and 2003, they are yet to win a series in India. On the other hand, the Blackcaps have had an edge over India while playing in SENA conditions. 


Here let us look at some of the statistical highlights in Tests between both the sides.

Host

Tests

India Win

NZ Win

Draw

India

36

17

2

17

New Zealand

25

5

10

10

Neutral

1

0

1

0

Overall

62

22

13

27


Top run-getters in India vs New Zealand Tests

Player

Matches

Runs

Average

50s/100s

Rahul Dravid

15

1659

63.80

6/6

Sachin Tendulkar

24

1595

46.91

8/4

Brendon McCullum

10

1224

68.00

2/4

Graham Dowling

11

964

48.20

2/3

Ross Taylor

17

890

30.68

1/3

Most Centuries in India vs New Zealand Tests

Player

Innings

Runs

100s

Highest Score

Rahul Dravid

28

1659

6

222

Brendon McCullum

19

1224

4

302

Sachin Tendulkar

39

1595

4

217

Graham Dowling

22

964

3

239

Sourav Ganguly

15

563

3

125

One may have expected Sachin Tendulkar, who has played the most number of Test matches featuring both sides, to lead the run-charts. But it is Rahul Dravid who is the most prolific run-scorer. The former India skipper has registered the most runs in Tests played between India and New Zealand.


He scored 893 runs in the eight Tests he played in India at an average of 63.78 with four centuries, while the rest 766 runs at 63.83 came on New Zealand soil. This includes the twin centuries (190 & 103*) he scored at Hamilton in India’s tour of New Zealand in 1999.



India vs England, 4th Test, Day 3_ Ravichandran Ashwin took his 35th 5-wicket haul  _ Walking Wicket (Images_ ©BCCI_Twitter)
Ashwin tops the highest wicket tally chart between two nations (Images: ©BCCI/X)

Most wickets in India vs New Zealand Tests

Player

Matches

Wickets

Average

Strike Rate

Ravi Ashwin

9

66

15.43

35.7

Sir Richard Hadlee

14

65

22.96

47.7

Bishen Singh Bedi

12

57

19.14

68.1

Erapalli Prasanna

10

55

20.12

53.5

Tim Southee

11

52

24.69

46.9



Most Fifers in India vs New Zealand Tests 

Player

Innings

Wickets

5 wkts

BBM

Ravichandran Ashwin

17

66

6

7/59

Bishen Singh Bedi

22

57

4

6/42

Subhash Gupte

10

34

4

7/128

Sir Richard Hadlee

24

65

4

7/23

Zaheer Khan

24

47

4

5/29

Most Ten wicket hauls in India vs New Zealand Tests 

Player

Innings

Wickets

10 wkt

BBM

Ravichandran Ashwin

17

66

3

13/140

Sir Richard Hadlee

24

65

2

11/58

Anil Kumble

18

50

1

10/134

Ajaz Patel

6

17

1

14/225

Erapalli Prasanna

18

55

1

11/140

While Dravid heads the batting charts, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin holds all the possible records in the bowling department. The champion off-spinner from India has taken 66 wickets in just nine Test matches against New Zealand.


Ashwin picked 5-wicket hauls on six different occasions and has taken fifers in both innings twice. While the first one came in Hyderabad in 2012 (6/31 & 6/54), the other came four years later in Indore (6/81 & 7/59). The veteran took another of his match winning 10-wicket hauls in a 2016 Test at Kanpur (4/93 & 6/132). 


To sum it up, Ashwin snapped 59 wickets from 7 games he played in India against the Kiwis. These came at an average of 14.83. He has also scalped seven wickets away from home at 20.57 apiece.


Being an active player, Ashwin has the chance to go further up and add more to his tally when both sides meet in the first Test at Bengaluru on 16 October, 2024.


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