Kyle Jamieson of the Black Caps celebrates the wicket of Navdeep Saini of India during game two of the One Day International Series between New Zealand and India at at Eden Park on February 08, 2020 in Auckland
New Zealand survived a scare on Saturday to take home the three-game ODI series against India. And it has truly been a tremendous comeback from the hosts. They headed into the contest following a 5-0 drubbing in the T20Is against India, regular skipper Kane Williamson were ruled out following a shoulder injury, alongside few others class players. But they turned the tables clinically, showing superb character against a formidable Indian side.
On Saturday, India made a positive start in their chase to 274 following Prithvi Shaw's triple boundaries in the first over. But New Zealand pacers bounced back strong to castle down the top-order quickly as India slipped to 71 for 4. Shreyas Iyer showed some resistance but threw away his wicket with a rash shot. Ravindra Jadeja then revived things with his valiant fifty, and was ably supported by Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur. But New Zealand, unlike in the T20Is, thrived under pressure to keep India quite and restrict them 23 runs short of the target.
2014 was the last time when New Zealand had defeated India in a bilateral ODI contest. In the three previous contests - 2016, 2017 and 2019 - India emerged victoriously.
423 is the number of losses that India have recorded since their first game in the format. It now stands atop on the list, two ahead of second-placed Sri Lanka.
7 is the number of half-centuries that Jadeja has struck in ODIs and it is the most by a No.7 Indian batsman, surpassing the previous record of six owned by MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev.
45 scored by Saini on Saturday is the fifth-highest score by a No.9 Indian batsman after 69 by Jai Prakash Yadav (vs NZ, Bulawayo 2005), 54* by Praveen Kumar (vs AUS, Guwahati 2009), 53* by Madan Lal (vs ENG, The Oval 1982) and Bhuvneswar Kumar (vs SL, Pellekele 2017)
76 runs stitched by Jadeja and Saini for the eighth-wicket partnership is the second-highest by for the wicket by an Indian pair against New Zealand after 82* by Kapil Dev and Kiran More (Bengaluru 1987). However, it is the fourth-highest for India in ODIs and second in an overseas venue after Dhoni and Bhuvi's partnership of 100 against Sri Lanka in 2017.
12-series unbeaten streak in international cricket by India has been broken by New Zealand on Saturday. Since their World Cup 2019 exit, India won 11 bilateral series across formats - three each in ODIs and Tests and five in T20Is - and drew one (in T20Is).
11 is the number of fifty-plus scores that Ross Taylor has against India and it is now the most by a New Zealand player, surpassing Nathan Astle's 10.
