7 losses out of 10: India desperate to end 18-year-long wait vs New Zealand in World Cup
It was 18 years ago in the 2003 ODI World Cup in Centurion when the Sourav Ganguly-led side had beaten Stephen Fleming's New Zealand by 7 wickets. Even that victory came after a 16-year wait in World Cups.
New Zealand are to India in World Cups what India have been to Pakistan - their biggest roadblock… well almost. Consider this, the last time India had beaten New Zealand in a World Cup match, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was India's Prime Minister, petrol cost ₹32/litre in New Delhi, Virat Kohli had just entered teenage, and we were still two years away from the first-ever T20 international match.
It was 18 years ago in the 2003 ODI World Cup in Centurion when the Sourav Ganguly-led side had beaten Stephen Fleming's New Zealand by 7 wickets. Even that victory came after a 16-year wait in World Cups. Before that India had beaten New Zealand twice in the 1987 World Cup at home, which was followed by two losses in the 1992 World Cup and the 1999 one.
To be fair to India, they haven't faced New Zealand a lot in World Cups since 2003. It has been thrice but they have lost all of three of those. The most agonising one being the semi-final loss in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.
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In T20I World Cups, the numbers aren't better either. India, in fact, haven't beaten New Zealand ever in shortest format ICC event. In the inaugural edition in 2007, they lost by 10 runs in Johannesburg. And in 2016, New Zealand won the match by 47 runs.
Overall, in the 10 matches that India have played against the Kiwis in World Cups, across formats, they have only won thrice.
It is tough to state whether these numbers will be on the back of Virat Kohli and Co's mind when they face the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand on Sunday in Dubai in what could well turn out to be virtual quarterfinal, but statistically, the Blackcaps definitely have the wood over the Men in Blue.
India vs New Zealand T20I head-to-head
India's overall head-to-head numbers against New Zealand in the shortest format aren't that bad, especially if we compare them with World Cup performance. In 16 T20Is against played between the two sides both the teams have 8 wins each.
But India have the win lowest percentage against New Zealand among all their oppositions with minimum 5 T20Is.
However, all is not lost for India even in terms of numbers. India had whitewashed New Zealand 5-0 at their own backyard in their last bilateral T20I series.
