India vs New Zealand Tests in numbers: Washington Sundar on song

In the Pune Test against New Zealand, India’s two off-spinners, Washington Sundar and R. Ashwin, claimed all 10 wickets in the first innings. This marked the first instance of such a feat in Indian Test cricket.

Washington Sundar (left). | Photo Credit: PTI

 

5 In the Pune Test against New Zealand, India’s two off-spinners, Washington Sundar and R. Ashwin, claimed all 10 wickets in the first innings. This marked the first instance of such a feat in Indian Test cricket. For the record, the first occurrence of all 10 wickets being taken by a single off-spinner in Test history was achieved by England’s Jim Laker, who accomplished this during the Ashes Test in Manchester in July 1956.

All 10 wickets in a Test innings falling to off-spinners 

Wkts	Bowlers	For	Opp	Venue	Month, Year	Result
10	Jim Laker (10/53)	Eng	Aus	Manchester	Jul 1956	Won
10	Tony Greig (8/86), Pat Pocock (2/86)	Eng	WI	Port of Spain	Apr 1974	Won
10	Kumar Dharmasena (6/99), Jayananda Warnaweera (3/63)	SL	Pak	Colombo PSS	Aug 1994	Lost
	M. Muralitharan (1/123)
10	M Muralitharan (6/26), Ajantha Mendis (4/60)	SL	Ind	Colombo SSC	Jul 2008	Won
10	WashingtonSundar(7/59), R. Ashwin (3/64)	Ind	NZ	Pune	Oct 2024	Lost

 

 

5 The maximum number of ‘bowled’ dismissals in a Test innings involving Indian bowlers. Washington Sundar, against the Kiwis, in Pune became the latest to achieve this feat in a Test innings for India. He became the first Indian bowler and the fourth to claim five or more ‘bowled’ victims in the same innings.

Most bowled victims in a Test innings for Indian bowlers

Bowled	Bowler (bowling)	Against	Venue	Month, year	Result	Bowling style
5	Jasu Patel (9/69)	Australia	Kanpur	Dec 1959	Won	Right-arm off-break
5	Bapu Nadkarni (6/105)	Australia	Mumbai BS	Jan 1960	Drawn	Left-arm spin
5	Anil Kumble (6/53)	South Africa	Johannesburg	Nov 1992	Drawn	Right-arm leg-break
5	Ravindra Jadeja (7/42)	Australia	Delhi	Feb 2023	Won	Left-arm spin
5	WashingtonSundar(7/59)	New Zealand	Pune	Oct 2024	Lost	Right-arm off-break

Patel and Nadkarni achieved this in successive Tests.

Jadeja and Sundar are the only bowlers to do so since 2003 in the Test cricket

 

Most bowled dismissals in a Test innings by bowlers against New Zealand batters

Bowled	Bowler (bowling)	For	Venue	Month, year	Result	Bowling style
6	Bill Bowes (6/34)	England	Auckland	Mar 1933	Drawn	Right arm pace
6	Mohd Nazir (7/99)	Pakistan	Karachi	Oct 1969	Drawn	Right-arm off-break
5	Shoaib Akhtar (6/11)	Pakistan	Lahore	May 2002	Won	Right arm pace
5	WashingtonSundar(7/59)	India	Pune	Oct 2024	Lost	Right-arm off-break

 

6 The number of Indian bowlers to claim seven or more wickets on the opening day of a Test match. Washington Sundar, making his comeback to Test cricket after three and a half years, became the latest bowler to do this for India. Irfan Pathan was the only Indian pace bowler to accomplish this, and he is the only one to do so in an away Test — against Zimbabwe in Harare in September 2005. Interestingly, whenever an Indian bowler takes seven or more wickets on the opening day of a home Test match, India has never won that match.

Seven or more wicket haul by Indian bowlers on Day1 of a Test match 

Bowling	Bowler	Against	Venue	Date	Result	Bowling style
9/102	Subhash Gupte	West Indies	Kanpur	12 Dec 1958	Lost	Right-arm leg-break
7/27	Maninder Singh	Pakistan	Bengaluru	13 Mar 1987	Lost	Left-arm spin
7/48	Anil Kumble	Australia	Chennai	14 Oct 2004	Drawn	Right-arm leg-break
7/49	Ghulam Ahmed	Australia	Kolkata	2 Nov 1956	Lost	Right-arm off-break
7/59	Irfan Pathan	Zimbabwe	Harare	20 Sep 2005	Won	Left-arm pace
7/59	Washington Sundar	India	Pune	24 Oct 2024	Lost	Right-arm off-break

** The Chennai Test was drawn after rain washed out play on the fifth and final day, with India (19/0) chasing a target of 229 runs

 

3 The number of opposition bowlers claiming 12 or more wickets in a Test match against India. Kiwi left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner has now joined his teammate Ajaz Patel, who took 14 wickets in Mumbai in December 2021, and England’s all-rounder and pacer Ian Botham as part of this elite group. Notably, Patel’s and Santner’s match bowling figures are the second and third best for New Zealand in Tests, following Richard Hadlee’s impressive 15/123 against Australia in November 1985 in Brisbane.

Most wickets in a Test match against India

Bowling	Bowler	For	Venue	Month, year	Result	Bowling style
14/225	Ajaz Patel	New Zealand	Mumbai WS	Dec 2021	Lost	Left-arm spin
13/106	Ian Botham	England	Mumbai WS	Feb 1980	Won	Right arm fast medium
13/157	Mitchell Santner	New Zealand	Pune	Oct 2024	Won	Left-arm spin

Note:The best bowling match figures against India by a left-arm pacer is 12/124 by Australian Alan Davidson in Kanpur in December 1959 and by an off-spinner is the 12/286 by another Aussie Nathan Lyon in Adelaide in December 2014.

 

 

4 The number of Test players to score over 2,000 runs and take more than 200 wickets in home Test matches over the course of their careers. During the Pune Test match, Ravindra Jadeja became the latest player to join this elite group. He is also the second-fastest, after Ian Botham, to achieve this remarkable double in home Test matches.

2000-plus runs and 200-plus wickets in career home Tests

Player	Career span at home	Mts	Inns	Runs	Ave	HS	100/50	Balls	Runs	Wkts	Ave.	S/R	5i/10m	Best
Ian Botham (Eng)	1977-1992	59	89	2969	34.93	208	8/13	12243	6226	226	27.55	54.17	17/2	8-34
Kapil Dev (Ind)	1978-1994	65	86	2810	36.97	163	5/15	12211	5803	219	26.50	55.76	11/2	9-83
Stuart Broad (Eng)	2008-2023	98	134	2495	21.51	169	1/11	19979	10320	398	25.93	50.20	14/3	8-15
Ravindra Jadeja (Ind)	2012-2024	49	68	2023	37.46	175*	3/13	12191	4929	238	20.71	51.22	13/3	7-42

Note:

** Ian Botham is the quickest to reach this milestone in fewest Tests (45 matches in 1985), followed by Ravindra Jadeja (48 in 2024), Kapil Dev (58 in 1990) and Stuart Broad (69 in 2018).

 

2 The number of Indian batters to aggregate 1000 or more runs in a calendar in Tests at home. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his Test debut in July 2023 and playing his first Test at home this year, has become the highest run-scorer for India at home in a calendar year, accumulating 1,091 runs. He surpassed Gundappa Viswanath’s previous record of 1,047 runs set in 1979, 45 years ago.

Most runs in a calendar year in India

Runs	Batter	Year	Mts	Inns	No	Ave	HS	100	50
1091	Yashasvi Jaiswal	2024	10	19	1	60.61	214*	2	7
1047	Gundappa Viswanath	1979	13	19	2	61.58	179	4	3
964	Virat Kohli	2016	8	14	2	80.33	235	3	2
898	Virat Kohli	2017	7	12	1	81.63	243	4	1
875	Dilip Vengsarkar	1987	9	14	4	87.50	166	4	3

 

25 The number of wickets the Mumbai-born Kiwi left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel has at the Wankhede Stadium. This impressive tally makes him the visiting bowler with most wickets at any Test ground in India. Previously, England’s Ian Botham had taken 22 wickets at the same ground.

Most Test wickets by visiting bowler at an Indian ground

Wkts	Bowler	Venue	Mts	Balls	Runs	Ave.	S/R	5i/10m	Best	Career Span at venue
25	Ajaz Patel (NZ)	Mumbai WS	2	658	385	15.40	26.32	3/2	10-119	2021-2024
22	Ian Botham (Eng)	Mumbai WS	2	596	239	10.86	27.09	3/1	7-48	1980-1981
18	Richie Benaud (Aus)	Kolkata	2	785	267	14.83	43.61	2/1	6-52	1956-1960
17	Courtney Walsh (WI)	Mumbai WS	2	490	237	13.94	28.82	2/0	6-79	1987-1994

 

147The target set by New Zealand in the third and final Test match in Mumbai. This is now the second-lowest target that India has failed to chase in the fourth innings of a Test match in its history. Additionally, this marks the fourth time in the last decade that India has fallen short in such circumstances. This target is also the lowest New Zealand has successfully defended in its Test history. Both tables below have the details.

Lowest targets India failed to chase in the fourth innings of a Test match 

Target set	India’s reply	Lost by runs	Against	Venue	Date	India captain
120	81	38	West Indies	Bridgetown	31 Mar 1997	Sachin Tendulkar
147	121	25	New Zealand	Mumbai WS	3 Nov 2024	Rohit Sharma
176	112	63	Sri Lanka	Galle	15 Aug 2015	Virat Kohli
194	162	31	England	Birmingham	4 Aug 2018	Virat Kohli
208	135	72	South Africa	Cape Town	8 Jan 2018	Virat Kohli

 

Lowest Test targets successfully defended by New Zealand in the fourth innings 

Target set	Won by runs	Against (Total)	Venue	Date	New Zealand captain
137	72	England (64)	Wellington Basin	15 Feb 1978	Mark Burgess
147	25	India (121)	Mumbai WS	3 Nov 2024	Tom Latham
176	4	Pakistan (171)	Abu Dhabi	19 Nov 2018	Kane Williamson

 

6The number of times India has lost three Tests in a home series. New Zealand recently became the fourth visiting team to achieve this feat, joining West Indies, Australia, and England. Notably, New Zealand became the first visiting side to whitewash India by winning all the matches in the Test series. The closest any visiting team in India has come to New Zealand’s success was South Africa, which won a two-match Test series under Hansie Cronje in February-March 2000.

 

India losing three or more Tests in a home series

Series Result	Opponent	Opponent captain	Series Dates	Losing Indian captain
0-3 (5)	West Indies	Gerry Alexander	28 Nov 1958 to 11 Feb 1959	Polly Umrigar (1), Ghulam Ahmed (2), Vinoo Mankad
				(1), Hemu Adhikari (1)
1-3 (5)	Australia	Bill Lawry	4 Nov 1969 to 28 Dec 1969	Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi
2-3 (5)	West Indies	Clive Lloyd	22 Nov 1974 to 29 Jan 1975	Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (4)/S Venkataraghavan (1)
1-3 (5)	England	Tony Greig	17 Dec 1976 to 16 Feb 1977	Bishan Singh Bedi
0-3 (5)	West Indies	Clive Lloyd	21 Oct 1983 to 29 Dec 1983	Kapil Dev
0-3 (3)#	New Zealand	Tom Latham	16 Oct 2024 to 3 Nov 2024	Rohit Sharma

# India’s only whitewash series defeat of three or more Tests at home.

** In the 1958/59 series India had four captains, Polly Umrigar (1st Test), Ghulam Ahmed (2nd and 3rd), Vinoo Mankad (4th) and Hemu Adhikari (5th). Under Ghulam and Mankad India lost two and one respectively.

** In the 1974/75 series, India had two captains, Pataudi (won 2, lost 2) and S. Venkataraghavan (2nd Test – lost)

 

All records are correct and updated until 16 November 2024.