Top 10 most brutal innings in Test cricket

9. Daniel Vettori (127 vs Zimbabwe, NZ in Zimbabwe 2005)

You don’t expect his name to feature in a list where great test innings are being talked about. But sure enough, he did play a carnage of an innings to outplay Zimbabwe in the first test match of the series in which they hosted New Zealand. A thunderous 127 off only 98 deliveries that took the NZ total to 452 set the stage for a huge defeat for the home team. Zimbabwe replied with a 59 in their first innings and a 99 when following on, giving New Zealand a win by an innings and 294 runs (Vettori took 6 wickets in the two innings combined). New Zealand declared the innings when Vettori got out after stringing some useful partnerships with the lower order. He had scored the fastest test hundred for New Zealand, and did not spare any of the bowlers. NZ scored the runs on the first day itself that was their highest total on a single day, and then managed to dismiss Zimbabwe twice on the second day of the test. Vettori was man of the match.