India dropped their first points in the ongoing World Test Championship

India dropped their first points in the ongoing World Test Championship when they lost the 1st Test in Wellington to New Zealand by 10 wickets on Monday morning. While India had won all their 7 previous matches in the WTC, New Zealand at home proved to be a tough nut to crack as Virat Kohli’s side registered their 1st Test loss since the Perth Test in 2019.

The Wellington defeat means that New Zealand has now emerged as winners in all 4 of their latest encounters with India in major ICC tournaments. Starting from the 2016 World T20, New Zealand has now beaten India 3 out of 3 times the 2 teams have clashed in an ICC tournament. In fact, their 7-wicket win in the 2003 World Cup remains India’s last win vs New Zealand in an ICC tournament.

ICC World T20 2007

The only team to beat India during their maiden World T20 triumph was New Zealand. Even though Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag got India off to a flying start of 76 for no-loss in 5.4 overs in the 191-run chase, Daniel Vettori stood up for the Kiwis with 4 wickets giving away just 20 runs in his 4 overs to hand his team a narrow 10-run victory.

ICC World T20 2016

India was considered favorites going into the league stage encounter vs the Kiwis and their chances looked brighter when they restricted the opposition to 126/7 in Nagpur. However, New Zealand’s spin trio of Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi picked 6 wickets between them to bundle the hosts for a mere 79 to leave the World Cup wide-open.

ICC World Cup 2019

Probably the most-talked-about India game in recent times lived up to its billing when the 2 teams met in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup. A match that went on for 2 days due to rain witnessed a see-saw battle between the teams as it went right down to the wire. India’s batting failed them once again in the pursuit of 240-run target but it wasn’t till the run-out of talisman MS Dhoni that the Kiwis knew they had booked a place in the final of the World Cup for the 2nd time in a row.

ICC World Test Championship 2019-21

On Monday, India was again bested by New Zealand as their batsmen failed to come to terms with the spongy bounce of the Basin Reserve surface surrendering meekly in both the innings. With totals of 165 and 191 across the 2 innings, India never really stood a chance at breaking the Kiwi hoodoo after letting them get away with a hefty 183-run lead. Only one Indian batsman (Mayank Agarwal) was able to hit a fifty as the others collapsed to the nagging line and lengths from the host bowlers.