New Zealand vs India, 2020: 2nd Test – Statistical Preview

New Zealand look set to win yet another Test series at home after taking a 1-0 lead in the 2-match Test series against India. A 10-wicket win has ensured that the Blackcaps continue their unbeaten series streak at home. New Zealand’s bowling is set to be even stronger for the Christchurch Test with the return of Neil Wagner. All the three pacers who played in Wellington returned with at least one 4-wicket haul. The defeat at the Basin Reserve was India’s first in the ICC World Test Championship as they failed to cross 200 in both innings.

All the key stats and numbers ahead of the last game of the 2-match Test series in Christchurch:

1 – The victory in the 2009 Hamilton Test was the only time India won a Test match in New Zealand over the last 43 years. In their last 19 Tests in New Zealand, the Indian team lost 8 matches while another 10 Tests ended in a draw.

3 – Neil Wagner has got the wicket of Virat Kohli on three occasions in Test cricket at the cost of 60 runs; the most number of times that Wagner has dismissed any current Indian player in this format. He missed the first Test of this series due to paternity leave.

4-1 – New Zealand won four of the six Test matches they played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch and lost only once – against Australia in 2016. The upcoming Test will be India’s first match in any format at the Hagley Oval. New Zealand has a win-loss record of 13-3 in the 17 International matches at this venue.

4* – India are currently on a losing streak of five matches in International cricket post their 5-0 T20I series win. If India loses the last Test match as well, it will be the first time since the 2011/12 Australian tour that they lost five successive international matches.

5* – New Zealand won each of their previous five series in Test cricket at home; their longest series winning streak at home in Test cricket. Kiwis need to draw or win the last Test in Christchurch to keep their streak intact that began after losing the 2017 Test series against South Africa by 0-1 margin.

13.67 – Cheteshwar Pujara has a batting average of 13.67 in Test cricket on New Zealand soil. He scored 82 runs in 6 innings across the three Tests he played in New Zealand with a highest of 23. Pujara has not scored a century in 12 Test innings since the 193-run knock during the 2019 SCG Test.

16 – New Zealand elected to bowl first in each of their last 16 home Test matches where they won the toss. 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 hasn’t lost any of the previous 16 home Tests where they chose to bowl first and are unbeaten batting second in 19 home Tests since the start of 2011.

73.55 – Shubman Gill has a batting average of 73.55 in first-class cricket which is the 2nd highest behind Sir Donald Bradman (95.14) [Min: 2000 runs]. In New Zealand, Gill has an FC average of 161.67 with 50+ scores in all four innings – 136, 204*, 83, 62.

297 – Ishant Sharma has picked up 297 wickets in his 96-match Test career. Ishant will be the 6th Indian and the 3rd Indian pacer to bag 300 Test wickets when he gets those three wickets. He will also be the slowest player ever to complete to the milestone surpassing Daniel Vettori who got there in 94 matches.

598 – Ravichandran Ashwin needs two more wickets to complete 600 wickets in first-class cricket. He will also complete 50 scalps in Test cricket against New Zealand with those two scalps.

964 – Mayank Agarwal has aggregated 964 runs in the 15 innings he batted across the 10 matches in his Test career. If Mayank scores 36 runs in his next two innings, he will be the 2nd fastest to 1000 runs in the format after Vinod Kambli (14 innings). Mayank will be the joint-fastest Indian to 1000 Test runs in terms of matches if he gets to the milestone in the next Test.

21884 – Virat Kohli needs 116 more runs to become the 3rd Indian to reach 22000 runs in International cricket. He will become the quickest player to achieve this milestone when he scores those 116 runs.