Hyderabad: When India and New Zealand will square off at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala in the ongoing World Cup on Sunday 22nd October, both the teams will have an opportunity to almost book a semi-final berth. The performance of both the teams in this World Cup has been more or less the same. Both have reached Dharamshala after winning all of their four matches so far. Both have bagged eight points so far in the tournament and are amongst the top two sides on the points table. However, New Zealand is in the first place due to a better run rate.
The Indian team has formed a string of impressive performances so far and the home advantage is also playing in their favour. However, New Zealand's performance in the past years and this World Cup has kept them at the forefront of the race for the semi-finals. The Blackcaps enjoy a head-to-head record in their favour and so they will have an upper hand going into the contest.
A better head to head record against India
Although the New Zealand team has always been a quality team, it is the misfortune of this team that they could never win the World Cup. The last decade has been very wonderful for the New Zealand team, during which the Blackcaps had reached the finals of the 2015 and 2019 World Cup and this time too their performance has been excellent. By winning the match against India, New Zealand would like to take one more step towards the semi-finals.
The performance of the New Zealand team in the World Cup has been better than the Indian team. Till now both the teams have faced each other 9 times in the World Cup, out of which New Zealand won 5 times while one match was washed out due to rain. This also includes the defeat in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup which broke Team India's dream of winning the World Cup. On the other hand, India has defeated New Zealand only thrice in the World Cup.
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World Cup 1975
In the inaugural Cricket World Cup, the opening fixture was played between the two teams was won by New Zealand. In the 60-over match, Team India won the toss and batted first and were all out for 230 runs. Apart from Syed Abid Ali's 70 runs, no other batter could play a memorable inning. In reply, the New Zealand team scored 233 runs losing 6 wickets in 58.5 overs, in which captain Glenn Turner played a brilliant inning of 114 runs. For which he was also chosen Player of the Match.
World Cup 1979
In the second World Cup, both the teams once again clashed but the result did not change. New Zealand won the toss and invited the Indian team to bat. Under the leadership of Venkataraghavan, the Indian team collapsed for 182 runs, in which opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar played an inning of 55 runs, although for this he faced 144 balls. New Zealand's openers John Wright and Bruce Edgar, who came to chase the target, sealed their victory by making a partnership of 100 runs for the first wicket. Thanks to John Wright's 48 runs and Glenn Turner's 43 runs, the New Zealand team scored 183 runs after losing 2 wickets in 57 overs and defeated Team India by 8 wickets. It is noteworthy that John Wright, who was a part of the New Zealand World Cup squad.
World Cup 1987
The edition was jointly hosted by India and Pakistan. In this World Cup, India and New Zealand clashed twice and the Indian team defeated New Zealand on both occasions. The first match was played in Bengaluru where Team India, batting first under the leadership of Kapil Dev, scored 252 runs in 50 overs. Which included Navjot Sidhu's innings of 75 runs and Kapil Dev's 72 runs in 58 balls. The New Zealand team, which came to chase the target, had a strong start but could score only 236 runs after losing 8 wickets in 50 overs. Team India won the match by 16 runs and Kapil Dev was chosen player of the match.
The second match between India and New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup brought many memorable moments for Men in Blue. In the match played in Nagpur, New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat and the entire team could muster only 221 runs by losing 9 wickets in 50 overs. In this match, Indian bowler Chetan Sharma took a hat-trick. He was the first bowler across the globe to do so.
India's performance that day was like that of a defending world champion, which had entered the field only to defend its 1983 World Cup title. The Indian team won the match by 9 wickets and achieved the target of 224 runs in just 32.1 overs, thanks to Sunil Gavaskar's 103 runs and Srikanth's 75 runs. Both the openers had scored 136 runs for the first wicket, after Srikanth's dismissal, Mohammad Azharuddin (41 runs) along with Gavaskar won the match for the team. In this match, Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Sharma were chosen players of the match. There have been only a few such occasions in the history of cricket when two players were chosen Player of the Match.
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World Cup 1992
In the World Cup, New Zealand won the toss and chose to field under the leadership of Martin Crowe. Indian outfit scored 230 runs after losing 6wickets in 50 overs. In which Sachin Tendulkar scored 84 runs and Azhar scored 55 runs. In reply, the New Zealand team scored 231 runs losing 6 wickets in 47.1 overs. Manoj Prabhakar took 3 wickets and Venkatapathy Raju took 2 wickets.
World Cup 1999
Mohammad Azharuddin won the toss and chose to bat first. Indian team scored 251 runs in 50 overs after losing 6 wickets. After Ajay Jadeja's 76 runs, 35 runs were conceded by the New Zealand bowlers in the form of extras. New Zealand scored 253 runs by losing 5 wickets in 48.2 overs and won the match by 5 wickets. With this win, New Zealand's World Cup scoreline against India became 4-2.
World Cup 2003
The performance of the Indian team in this World Cup was excellent. Team India had lost only two matches in this World Cup including the final and both of them were against Australia. Team India had achieved a one-sided victory against New Zealand. Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to field first and the Indian bowlers bundled out New Zealand team for a paltry 146. Zaheer Khan took 4 wickets for 42 runs in 8 overs. Indian batsmen had scored 150 runs after losing 3 wickets in 40 overs. However, all three wickets of Team India had fallen for 21 runs. After which Mohammad Kaif scored 68 runs and Rahul Dravid scored 53 runs to give victory to the team. Zaheer Khan was chosen player of the match for his excellent bowling.
World Cup 2019
This time after almost 16 years both the teams clashed in the World Cup. This time too there were two matches between the two sides but the initial match could not be played due to rain. Whereas for the second time both the teams met in the semi-finals. New Zealand notched up a total of score 239 runs after losing 8 wickets in 50 overs. Due to rain, the match was played for two days and Team India was considered the favorite in the match but the entire team was all out for 221 runs. Fans still remember Mahendra Singh Dhoni being run out in that match and returning to the pavilion with tears in his eyes.
Thus far, out of the 9 matches between India and New Zealand in the World Cup, New Zealand have won 5 matches while India have won three matches. One match was not played due to rain. Now on October 22, both the teams will face each other for the 10th time in the World Cup. Also, both of them will aim to strengthen their chances of making it to the semi-final.
