New Zealand vs India, 2020: 2-match Test series – Approaching Milestones

New Zealand and India will clash off in a 2-match Test series starting on Friday after they swept the ODI and T20I series respectively in the current tour. Individually, this series offers a lot to the players, especially the Indian batsmen. In Rohit Sharma’s absence, the Indian management have got a headache of choosing between Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill to open the innings. The youngsters will be keen on making most of the opportunities. Mayank Agarwal too will be hoping to score big runs in the overseas Tests as he did during the home season with two double tons.

Here are all the approaching milestones to look out for during the Test series between India and New Zealand:

1 – If New Zealand wins one of the two matches in this Test series, they will become the 7th team to complete 100 Test wins. The Blackcaps have played 440 Test matches till date and lost 175 of them alongside winning 99 games.

99 – The first match of this series will be the 100th appearance for Ross Taylor in Test cricket. He will be only the 4th player to represent New Zealand in 100 Test matches. Taylor will also become the first player ever to feature in 100 matches in all three formats.

292 – Number of wickets for Ishant Sharma in his 96-match Test career; he needs 8 more wickets to become the 6th Indian and the 3rd Indian pacer to claim 300 Test wickets. Ishant will also be the slowest player ever to complete 300 Test wickets surpassing Daniel Vettori who got there in 94 matches.

295 – Tim Southee has picked up 295 wickets in International cricket till date on New Zealand soil. He needs five more wickets to become the first player with 300 International wickets in New Zealand. Daniel Vettori’s 299 wickets are the most in International cricket on the home soil at the moment.

595 – Ravichandran Ashwin needs five more wickets to complete 600 wickets in first-class cricket. During the home series, Ashwin completed 350 Test wickets and 550 International wickets.

872 – Mayank Agarwal needs 128 more runs to complete 1000 runs in Test cricket. If Mayank scores those 128 runs in his next innings, he will become the joint-quickest to 1000 Test runs along with Vinod Kambli in 14 innings.

The next Test will be Mayank’s 10th match of his Test career and if he scores those 128 runs despite batting two innings, the opener from Karnataka will be the fastest Indian to 1000 Test runs in terms of matches.

1844 – Ravindra Jadeja needs 156 more runs to become the 5th Indian to complete the double of 2000+ runs and 200+ wickets in Test cricket. If Jadeja plays both matches in this series, he will complete 50 appearances for India in Test cricket.

6986 – Runs Kane Williamson has aggregated in International cricket as New Zealand captain. He will become the 2nd Kiwi skipper to complete 7000 International runs. Williamson will be joint 3rd fastest to the feat if he scores 14 runs in his next inning.

Kane Williamson (6926) also needs 74 more runs to become the 3rd player after Ross Taylor and Stephen Fleming to aggregate 7000 International runs in New Zealand.

21863 – Virat Kohli needs 117 more runs to complete 22000 runs in International cricket. He will become the 3rd Indian to reach 22k International runs when he scores those 117 runs and also the quickest to achieve this milestone.