New Zealand vs India, 2020: 1st Test, Day 1 – New Zealand's tosses streak, Mayank's resistance and more stats

Only two sessions of play was possible on the first day of the Wellington Test where New Zealand managed to pick five Indian wickets. After being put in to bat first, India survived the first session at the cost of Prithvi Shaw on a pitch with green tinge under overcast conditions. Debutant Kyle Jamieson dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara (11) and Virat Kohli (2) in his opening spell

He went on to dismiss Hanuma Vihari (7) straight after the drinks break during the 2nd session. Mayank Agarwal was bounced out by Trent Boult after a gritty 84-ball 34 and put a 48-run stand between the opener and Ajinkya Rahane. The Indian vice-captain continued his recent Test form scoring an unbeaten 38 off 122 balls before going to Tea alongside Rishabh Pant (10*).

All the statistical highlights from the rain-affected opening day’s play of the Wellington Test match:

New Zealand’s tosses streak:

16 – New Zealand chose to bowl first for the 16th consecutive time where they won the toss in a home Test match. The last instance of New Zealand electing to bat after winning the toss in a home Test was back in January 2011 during the Wellington Test against Pakistan.

New Zealand has not lost any of the previous 15 home Tests where they chose to bowl first and are unbeaten while batting second in 18 home Tests since the start of 2011. Contrastingly, India have lost only once in 31 Test matches while batting first under Virat Kohli’s captaincy – in 2018 Lord’s Test against England.

Mayank’s resistance:

1990 – Last Indian opener before Mayank Agarwal to survive the first session of a Test match on New Zealand was Manoj Prabhakar in the 1990 Napier Test. Manoj scored 95 in 268 balls during his 382-minute stay.

Between these two games, India batted first in four Tests on New Zealand soil. In three of those four matches, the Indian openers were back in the hut well before the first hour of the Test.

Taylor’s rare treble:

1 – Ross Taylor became the first player in the history of International Cricket to feature in 100+ matches in all the three formats of the game. The game in Wellington marks the 100th Test appearance of Taylor making him the 4th player to complete this milestone for New Zealand.

Stats: Ross Taylor achieves a rare treble in International cricket

A young opener for India in an away Test:

20y 104d – At the age of 20 years and 104 days, Prithvi Shaw became the youngest Indian opener to face the first ball of an away Test match. Abhinav Mukund was the previous youngest to do so as he was 21 years and 165 days when he took first strike on his Test debut against West Indies in 2011 Kingston Test.

Prithvi was 18 years and 329 days old when he made his Test debut where he faced the first ball of the Test making him the youngest Indian with this feat.

20y 104d – Shaw is also the youngest Indian to open the innings in an away Test match since Parthiv Patel (19y 35d) in the 2004 Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan. Prithvi is also the 3rd youngest Indian to open the innings on New Zealand soil in Test cricket after Parthiv Patel (17y 285d in 2002) and Dilip Vengsarkar (19y 293d in 1976).

Ashwin’s wait comes to an end:

1 – The Wellington Test is Ravichandran Ashwin’s maiden appearance in a Test match on New Zealand soil. Ashwin played five Tests against New Zealand claiming 45 wickets but all those five games were played at home only. Both the Indian openers, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah are also playing a Test match in New Zealand for the first time during this game.

End of Vihari’s streak:

7 – Hanuma Vihari was dismissed for seven runs in the first innings. This is the first time in six first-class cricket innings on New Zealand soil that Vihari failed to score 50+ runs. Hanuma’s FC scores for India A in New Zealand read – 86, 51*, 51, 100*, 59. [Vihari also scored 101 before being retired out during the 3-day warm-up match which doesn’t go under FC records]

Yet another toss lost by captain Kohli:

29 – Virat Kohli now has lost 29 tosses in 54 Test matches as India captain. Only MS Dhoni (34 out of 60) lost more tosses in Test cricket than Kohli as an Indian skipper. Virat went past Sourav Ganguly’s 28 toss losses in 49 Test matches.