India secures 3-0 T20 Series win against New Zealand
In the 3 match T20 series, which was captained by Rohit Sharma, wins a T20 series by defeating New Zealand in all the 3 matches. This is the 1st series captained by Rohit Sharma, after Virat Kohli stepping down from the post & the appointment of Team India’s new Head Coach – Rahul Dravid.
- The 3rd & final T20 match was held at the Eden Gardens cricket ground in Kolkata, West Bengal, where India won by a 73 run difference, its highest against New Zealand.
Player of the Series – Rohit Sharma (India), for scoring 159-runs from the 3 matches.
Martin Guptill Surpasses Virat Kohli to Become Leading Run-Scorer in T20Is
During the T20 series, New Zealands’ Martin Guptill surpassed India’s Virat Kohli to become the top run-scorer in the T20 Internationals format. He has scored a total of 3248 runs, the most by any player in T20 Internationals.
- Guptill is closely followed by India’s Virat Kohli with 3227 runs & Rohit Sharma with over 3000 runs.
Note – India is ranked 2nd in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I ranking, which is topped by England.
India marks 1-0 Test Series win against New Zealand
Indian Men’s team has won the 2 match Test series against New Zealand by 1-0, winning the 2nd match after ending up with a draw in the 1st. India defeated New Zealand in the 2nd match that was held in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, with a 372-run difference, its biggest ever run difference.
- This is Team India’s 1st win after Rahul Dravid became the head coach.
Player of the Series – Ravichandran Ashwin (India), for taking 14-wickets.
- This is Ravichandran Ashwin’s 9th ‘Player of the Series’ award in Test Cricket, most by any Indian Player.
- Ashwin is also the 3rd player to receive 9 or more such awards in Test Cricket. Other 2 players are Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (11) & South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (9).
Ravichandran Ashwin becomes the 2nd Indian to take 300 wickets in home
During the test series, Ashwin recorded his 300th Test wicket in home soil, thereby becoming the 6th player to do so, and the 2nd Indian player to take 300-wickets in home. With this Ashwin has a total of 427 wickets in Test cricket.
- Anil Kumble, with 350 wickets, has the highest wickets at home for India.
- Ravichandran Ashwin surpassed Harbhajan Singh to become the Third highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket, reaching the mark in his 80th match by taking 417 Wickets.
- The legendary Anil Kumble tops the chart with 619 scalps and is followed by India’s first World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, who has a total of 434 wickets.
Shreyas Iyer becomes 1st Indian to score a Century & a Half-century on Test debut
During the 1st Test that was held in Kanpur, Shreyas Iyer scored 105-runs on Day 2 to become the 16th Indian to score a century on Test debut. He also scored 65-runs on Day 4, to become the 1st & only Indian player to score both Century & Half-century on Test debut.
- Overall he scored 170 runs on his debut, which is the 3rd highest after Shikhar Dhawan’s 187-runs & Rohit Sharma 177-runs scored on their debut.
New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel becomes 3rd Bowler to take 10 wickets in an Innings
During the 2nd Test match between India & New Zealand, the Mumbai-born Ajaz Patel created history by taking all 10-wickets of Indian players in the 1st innings which was played at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. He completed his spell with an impressive 10 wickets for 119-runs
- Ajaz Patel became the 3rd player in the history of Men’s Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings. He is also the 1st New Zealand Player to hold this historic record.
- Other 2 players holding the record – England’s Jim Laker in 1956 & India’s Anil Kumble in 1999.
Stadiums – Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur; JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi; Green Park Stadium, Kanpur.
India Regains No.1 spot in ICC Test Ranking
After the series win against New Zealand, India regained the Top spot in ICC Men’s Test Ranking. India is followed by New Zealand & Australia in the 2nd & 3rd spot in the Test team rankings.
Recent Related News:
Australia defeated New Zealand in the finals of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup tournament that was held at Dubai International Stadium, UAE, to win its maiden T20 World Cup.
About Test Cricket:
i.Test Cricket is the longest format of Cricket, which is played across 5 days (or more days in the past).
- Each Team can play a maximum of 2 innings, for a team to be declared as winner, it shall take All the wickets of the opposition team.
- If even 1-player is still playing till the end of the 5th day, the match is declared as ‘Draw’.
- Total overs bowled – ~450 overs (~90 overs/day for 5 days)
ii. The 1st ever Official Test match was held from 15th March 1877, between England & Australia.
