Remembering India's 5 Most memorable ODI wins in New Zealand soil

Team India are riding really well across all worlds as far as the game of cricket is concerned, with King Kohli and his men have set forth on the daunting task of conquering hitherto hostile environments.

Fresh from ODI and T20I series win in South Africa, India won the T20I series in England and later followed it up with the best part of all of last year, a tied T20I series followed by historic first-time Test and ODI series wins in Australia.

India's latest assignment in the new year now awaits them at New Zealand, as the Kiwis play hosts to the Men in Blue - in a tour featuring eight games: five ODIs and three T20Is. Will Kohli's brigade be able to continue with their rampant exploits from Down Under?

To be honest, India have not won many games in New Zeland soil till date, and the last time they went there for a five-match series back in 2014, they lost 4-0 with the game at Auckland going down to a nerve-racking tie. Let us now take a look at the five most memorable of India's wins in ODIs, in New Zealand (in chronological order).

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#1 4th Match, Rothmans Cup Triangular Series at Wellington, March 6th - 1990

Kapil Dev

Batting first, India could gather just 221 runs as Danny Morrison, Sir Richard Hadlee and Shane Thomson played spoilsport to India's batting plans. While Morrison picked up wickets of Manoj Prabhakar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Kapil Dev, Sir Hadlee took out Ajay Sharma and Narendra Hirwani while at the same time bowling out 9.2 overs and giving away just 27.

Kapil Dev top-scored with 46 runs, as Tendulkar, Prabhakar, and Manjrekar (36 runs each) helped the side post 221 on board before the final wicket fell. It was touted to be an easy win for the hosts, but they really did not see the Indian bowlers coming the way they did.

Prabhakar, Atul Wassan, Hirwani, and Kapil Dev all bowled good, economical spells, while at the same time picked up wickets at crucial junctures. There were two partnerships in the middle overs - between Greatbatch (53) and Rutherford (46) and then between Rutherford and Hadlee (46), but Wassan and Prabhakar combined to break both stands at favorable junctures. While Hadlee thrived at one end, wickets kept falling at the other end and eventually, Hadlee himself fell as the last man, when the score read exactly 220 runs.

India thus won a hotly contested game by 1 run, and Kapil Dev was man-of-the-match for his all-around efforts. He scored 46 runs, but also supplemented that with a good bowling figure of 9.5-1-45-2. It was Kapil who took Hadlee's wicket and won the game for India.

#2 2nd ODI, India's tour of New Zealand at Auckland, March 27th - 1994

Sachin Tendulkar

India's first ever authoritative win on New Zealand soil came four years since their famed 1-run win at Wellington, and it was largely due to some priceless bowling displays by the Indian bowlers.

Kapil Dev's figures read 2/18 in his ten overs while Javagal Sreenath took two wickets by giving away a run less in 7.4 overs. Salil Ankola and Rajesh Chauhan's tallies read 8-0-27-2 and 10-1-43-3 respectively, while Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja bowled 14 overs between them to give away just 35 runs. Overall, the Kiwis were skittled out for just 142 runs as no one apart from Chris Harris (50) made influential changes to the scoreboard.

In reply, Sachin Tendulkar's solid knock (82 off 49, 15 hours, 2 sixes) chiefly brought India to the win with 26.4 overs (160 balls) remaining. 72 of those runs came via boundary shots as the Little Master looked his attacking best. There were no other competitors for the man-of-the-match title either.

#3 6th ODI (D/N), India's tour of New Zealand at Auckland, January 11th - 2003

Virender Sehwag

It took nearly nine years for India to make another win in New Zealand soil, and that occurred once again at Auckland, as Saurav Ganguly's men toured the country prior to their breakaway World Cup campaign. This time once again, the series wasn't successful but India did take home a really memorable win - by 1 wicket, with 1 ball remaining.

Batting first, New Zealand made 199 for the loss of 9 wickets. Lou Vincent (53) and Scott Styris (42) were the top scorers for the home side. No one else created an impact as the Indian bowlers wreaked havoc amongst the New Zealand batsmen. Javagal Srinath was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he bowled a magnificent spell of 3/13 in his 10 overs. Ganguly, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, and Ajit Agarkar picked one wicket each, while the remaining three wickets were run-outs.

India in reply owed all its batting success to Virender Sehwag, who scored 112 runs (139 balls, 11 fours, 3 sixes). Ganguly (23) and Dravid (21) were the only others who scored more than a single digit, and it all boiled down to the last over where Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra were the only ones left to help India cross the target. Eventually, Nehra hit the fifth ball of the final over for a single and India won the game with one wicket and one ball to spare.

Sehwag was the man-of-the-match for the knock that decided the fate of the game.

#4 3rd ODI (D/N), India's tour of New Zealand at Christchurch, March 8th - 2009

Sachin Tendulkar smashed 163 runs at Christchurch

The 2009 series of India versus New Zealand was by far the most successful in an Indian point of view. This was also the first time and the only time till date, that India clinched an ODI series in New Zealand. One of India's best victories came at Christchurch in the third ODI of the series. The game will be remembered for being one of the highest scoring games of those times until those records were broken later.

With the exception of Sehwag and Gambhir, all the other Indian batsman who got a chance to play in the middle excelled, as Sachin Tendulkar let the charge with a blistering 163 runs (133 balls, 16 fours, 5 sixes). He was injured and retired hurt, but that did not dampen the spirits of the Indian camp as Yuvraj (87) Dhoni (68) and Raina (38*) helped India post 392 on board for the loss of just four wickets. Tim Southee had a nightmare spell, reading 10-0-105-0 by the end of India's batting.

The Kiwi batsman started well too, with Jesse Ryder (105) and Brendon McCullum (71) giving New Zealand a much needed solid start. The first wicket fell only at 166. But as soon as the duo got dismissed the Kiwi middle order woes were exposed, as the hosts lost another seven more wickets while adding just 85 runs. Kyle Mills (54) tried to stitch a stand with Tim Southee at the tail, but the efforts lasted only until 334 runs and India thus won the game by 58 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar was man-of-the-match in Kiwi soil once again.

#5 4th ODI (D/N), India's tour of New Zealand at Hamilton, March 11th - 2009

The Entertainer

The 4th ODI of the same series as the last game is arguably India's biggest ODI win in New Zealand. The win also helped the visitors claim their first ever series win in the format in New Zealand. Batting first, the Kiwis had made 270 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 50 overs thanks to good batting performances by Jesse Ryder (46), Brendon McCullum (77), Grant Elliot (35*) and Peter McGlashan (56*).

But the hosts really did not expect what would follow, as Virender Sehwag (125*, 74 balls, 14 fours, 6 sixes) and Gautam Gambhir (63* from 67, 6 fours) unleashed literal Carnage on the New Zealand bowlers to post 201 runs on board for the loss of no wickets at all - in just 23.3 overs.

India's rampage could be stopped only by rain that followed, which deemed the play impossible to continue any further. As a result, a Duckworth-lewis target was set and the par-score was 117 runs for the same point of time - which in turn, meant that India won the match by a whopping 84 runs - one of the highest margin of victory in D/L games.

Virender Sehwag was the man of the match for his second time for the second time in New Zealand soil.