ICC World T20 2016: India vs New Zealand - Player vs Player stats

Can Virat Kohli help India celebrate victory over Kiwis in the World T20 opener?

India take on New Zealand in the opening game of the ICC World T20 in Nagpur on Tuesday, hoping to create history on two fronts. Not only have the hosts never beaten New Zealand in a T20I, but a victory would also give them the joint-longest winning streak in T20I history.

Also read: India Vs New Zealand-LIVE Streaming Info, Cricket Scores, Ball by Ball Commentary, Scorecard Updates and more

 

While India undeniably hold the upper hand in terms of form, it is the Kiwis who hold the wool over India, when it comes to T20Is. Of the five T20Is that India have played against the Black Caps, they have lost four and the other one ended in a no result.

 

The only time that the two sides have faced each in India was four years ago, when they played in Chennai, a game that was decided by just a solitary run as India failed to chase 168 on Yuvraj Singh's return to international cricket.

With one side considerably holding the upper hand in terms of history and the other in terms of recent form, it should certainly be interesting to see what the sixth T20I between the two sides throws up.

 

In this article, we statistically compare the expected playing XIs of both sides and attempt to judge which team will start the contest as favourites. The winner between each duo has been judged only by T20 career stats and not talent, form or anything else.

India	New Zealand	Who’s better?
Shikhar Dhawan Runs – 373, Avg – 23.31, SR – 118.41	Kane Williamson Runs – 844, Avg – 36.69, SR – 127.68	New Zealand
Rohit Sharma Runs – 1204, Avg – 32.54, SR – 128.63	Martin Guptill Runs – 1666, Avg – 34.70, SR – 129.64	New Zealand
Virat Kohli Runs – 1368, Avg – 52.61, SR – 133.07	Colin Munro Runs – 382, Avg – 25.46, SR – 159.16	India
Suresh Raina Runs – 1162, Avg – 31.40, SR – 133.25	Ross Taylor Runs – 1165, Avg – 24.27, SR – 120.68	India
Yuvraj Singh Runs – 1082, Avg – 30.91, SR – 139.43	Grant Elliott Runs – 107, Avg – 15.28, SR – 103.88	Sample too small to judge
MS Dhoni Runs – 952, Avg – 34, SR – 121.42	Luke Ronchi Runs – 309, Avg – 22.07, SR – 141.09	India
Hardik Pandya Runs – 62, Avg – 12.4, SR – 147.61 Wickets – 10, Avg – 21.70, RPO – 7.11	Corey Anderson Runs – 229, Avg – 20.81, SR – 144.93 Wickets - 12, Avg – 34.25, RPO – 8.56	Sample too small to judge
Ravindra Jadeja Runs – 91, Avg – 9.10, SR - 86.66 Wickets – 25, Avg – 30.24, RPO – 7.02	Mitchell Santner Runs – 11, Avg – 5.50, SR – 55 Wickets – 7, Avg – 14.57, RPO – 6.37	Sample too small to judge
Ravichandran Ashwin Wickets – 46, Avg – 21.56, RPO – 6.84	Nathan McCullum Wickets – 55, Avg – 22.85, RPO – 7	India
Jasprit Bumrah Wickets – 15, Avg – 16.20, RPO – 6.15	Trent Boult Wickets – 15, Avg – 21.73, RPO – 7.95	Sample too small to judge
Ashish Nehra Wickets – 26, Avg – 20.50, RPO – 8.20	Tim Southee Wickets – 46, Avg – 25.69, RPO – 8.62	India
India 5 – 2 New Zealand

NOTE: The lineups mentioned above are predicted teams and might not actually be the XIs that take to the field on Tuesday.

Summary

While both teams have a settled top order, the middle-order is filled with plenty of new faces and given the bowling might of the hosts in favorable conditions, they go into the contest with the better bowling outfit even if the Kiwis have the more experienced outfit.

Somewhat surprisingly, both New Zealand openers come out on top and in the case of Guptill, only just while No.3 and No.4 clearly goes to the Indian batsmen, so the batting is split evenly between the two sides.

As far as the middle order is concerned, India boast of greater experience, so they should dominate the contest while the bowling is more even expected with Indian only just edging it. Although India’s spinners combined for more matches than the visitors.

On paper, both sides have strong batting orders but India's experienced middle-order and spinners should see them through. But India will have to overcome history to make history and come out on top in this encounter.