5 memorable ODI matches between India and New Zealand
India-New Zealand has not been a much-talked contest if compared with many other rivalries in world cricket. If India is the most high-profile team in world cricket, New Zealand is probably on the opposite side.
Till date, India and New Zealand have faced each other 101 times in ODI cricket. Out of those, India has won 51 matches, while New Zealand has 44 in their favour. Going by the records, it has been a close face-off.
Coming to the point, India's tour of New Zealand that consists of five ODI matches followed by three T-20 internationals is set to commence. Lately, New Zealand has performed exceedingly well everywhere with a nearly unbeaten run at home. On the other hand, India, despite few hiccups in the batting order, has been a team to beat.
India has recently created history by clinching bilateral ODI series in South Africa and Australia respectively. In doing so, now, they endorse the record of winning a bilateral ODI series in four major nations outside Asia: New Zealand, England, South Africa, and Australia.
Based on the above-mentioned scenarios, the upcoming ODI series between the two nations is bound to be a cracker. There is a certainty that cricket fans will have some intriguing matches on offer in the five-match series.
In the past, India and New Zealand have been part of some engrossing matches in ODI cricket. Let's have a look at top 5 of them:
#5 Rothmans Cup 1990
This match took place when India toured New Zealand in 1990. The tour started with a three-match Test series that New Zealand won by 1-0. After the Test series, both teams took part in a triangular series with Australia as the third team. It was the fourth match of the competition that was played in Wellington.
Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat first. Courtesy, an average but collective effort from batsmen, India posted 221 runs on the board. Kapil Dev was the top scorer with a quick 46 off 38 balls, while Manoj Prabhakar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Sachin Tendulkar contributed with 36 runs each.
Chasing the target of 222 runs, New Zealand looked to do it easily when they had lost just 3 wickets with the score of 148 runs. From here on, Indian pace trio of Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar and Atul Wassan bowled beautifully to bring India back in the match.
New Zealand needed 11 runs in the last over with two wickets to spare. Kapil Dev had the ball in his hands to bowl the final over. On the very first ball, Richard Hadlee found a boundary off an edge to the third man; he took doubles on the following two balls, and the equation remained a pretty easy one for New Zealand as they only needed 3 runs off 3 balls.
On the fourth ball, New Zealand lost their 9th wicket off a run out, when batsmen failed to complete the second run. The hosts then required 2 off 2 balls with the solitary wicket remaining, but Kapil Dev ensured that New Zealand did not do that.
A quick and full delivery hit the stumps of Hadlee, and India clinched the thriller by 1 run.