India will kick off their tour of New Zealand with the first T20I of their five match series at Auckland on Friday. The visitors are coming on the back of a commanding ODI series victory against Australia at home and that puts them in good stead while going into the series. They would be hopeful of carrying this form forward as they would want to somewhat better their T20I record against the Kiwis.
India have won only thrice in a total of 11 T20Is against New Zealand and, when it comes to matches played at the Kiwis’ den, the visitors have won only once while losing the other four matches. So it goes on to show how New Zealand have dominated India in this format and they would be hopeful of maintaining their excellent record against the Asian side.
However, this is a fresh contest and a lot will depend on how different factors pan out this time for both the sides. So, let’s have a look at some of the key numbers from past encounters between these two teams that may go on to define this series.
1 – The number of times India has played a T20I against New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland. Incidentally, this was the only time India won against the hosts at their den. It came last year in February in the second T20I of the three-match series as India chased down the target of 159 successfully with seven wickets and nine deliveries to spare.
2 – Number of times the two teams have scored 200+ runs against each other in T20Is. New Zealand won both the times they scored more than 200 runs and both of these victories came in the T20I series last year at Wellington and Hamilton respectively. India won once and lost once while scoring above 200 in T20Is against the Kiwis. Their victory came at Delhi in 2017 and they lost on another instance even though they put on a valiant chase last year at Hamilton. They fell just five runs short of the target in the series decider.
49.25 – Virat Kohli’s average in T20Is against New Zealand. It is the highest among the players belonging to the current squad in T20Is between the two sides. However, Kohli is yet to play a T20I in New Zealand. All of his five T20I innings against the Kiwis have come at home.
46.33 – The highest average for a Kiwi batsman in T20Is against India. Tim Seifert has 139 runs to his name in three innings against the Asian giants and that includes a best score of 84 as well.
248 – Colin Munro’s tally of runs in T20Is against India. It is the most by any batsman belonging to the current squad of the two sides in India-New Zealand T20Is. Munro has amassed these runs at an excellent average of 41.33. Not only that, these runs include a fifty and a hundred as well.
5 – Number of players from the current squad of the two sides to have registered fifty-plus scores in India-New Zealand T20Is. Colin Munro, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma lead the list with two scores of fifty or more each, followed by one each from Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Seifert.
17 – Munro’s tally of sixes in T20Is between India and New Zealand. It has come in seven innings and is the all-time best tally of maximums hit by batsmen in T20Is between the two sides. Only Seifert comes close with 10 sixes in three innings followed by Rohit Sharma with nine from an equal number of innings.
21 – Most fours by a batsmen from the current squad of the two sides in India-New Zealand T20Is. The record is held by Virat Kohli and is the second best in the list of all-time records topped by Brendon McCullum with 30 fours. Only Colin Munro and Rohit Sharma come close with 14 fours each.
11 – Most wickets taken by a bowler in T20Is between India and New Zealand. Ish Sodhi holds this record with his wickets coming at an excellent strike-rate of 12.5.
2 – Number of times Virat Kohli has been dismissed by Ish Sodhi in T20Is with the two dismissals coming in just 14 deliveries. The Indian skipper has had his share of problems against leg-spinners of late. The Kiwis will look to use this to their advantage in the series.
0 – Number of Indian bowlers from the current squad who have five or more wickets in T20Is against New Zealand. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Irfan Pathan are the only two Indian bowlers to have taken at least five wickets in T20Is against the Kiwis. While Pathan has retired, Bhuvneshwar is sidelined from the series due to an injury. Jasprit Bumrah, however, is the only bowler from the touring squad who has decent numbers with four wickets in an equal number of matches at an excellent economy rate of 6.00.
4 – Most wickets taken by a bowler in a single innings during T20Is between these two sides. Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult and Daniel Vettori have achieved this feat once each and Santner has the best figures – 4 for 11 – among them.