Tit-Bits: India Vs New Zealand, Day 4, Final Test, Wellington
Tit-bits after the fourth day’s play of the third and final Test between India and New Zealand on Monday.
- Rahul Dravid, with Tim McIntosh’s catch, has established a world record for most catches (182) as a fielder, overtaking Mark Waugh’s tally of 181 catches. With Jesse Ryder’s catch, his tally is now 183.
- India (434/7 decl.) registered their highest total at Basin Reserve, Wellington, eclipsing the 379 in the first innings of the Test.
- India became the second team to register a second innings total of 400 against New Zealand at Basin Reserve, Wellington. Australia had made 511 for six declared followed by 460 for eight in 1973-74.
- Dhoni (52 & 56 not out), for the third time in his Test career, has recorded a fifty in each innings of a Test match – 92 & 68 not out against Australia at Mohali; 56 & 55 against Australia at Nagpur last year. Dhoni, with three instances of recording the feats as captain, has equalled an Indian record held by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. Pataudi had accomplished the feat against Australia twice – 86 & 53 at Mumbai in 1964-65; 75 & 85 at Melbourne in 1967-68 and once against England – 64 & 148 at Leeds in 1967.
- Sunil Gavaskar had achieved the feat twice while Vijay Hazare, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly once each.
- Gavaskar is the only Indian captain to have registered a century in each innings of a Test match – 107 & 182 not out against West Indies at Kolkata in 1978-79.
- Dhoni is the only Indian captain to have recorded a fifty in each innings of a Test match against New Zealand.
- Dhoni is now the second wicketkeeper to have effected 6 dismissals in an innings apart from a fifty in each innings of a Test match. Denis Lindsay had accomplished the feat for South Africa against Australia at Johannesburg in December 1966 – 69 & 182 and 6 ct. + 2 ct.
- Dhoni is one of only three captains/wicketkeeprs to post a double 50 – the others being Andy Flower and Tatenda Taibu (twice).
- Dhoni’s 56 not out is his highest score against New Zealand.
- Dhoni has 16 fifties in Tests – two against New Zealand.
- Dhoni has aggregated 540 in seven Tests as captain at an average of 60.00, including seven fifties.
- Zaheer Khan’s match figures of 7 for 115 are his best against New Zealand, surpassing the 6 for 85 in the 2002-03 Hamilton Test.
- Zaheer’s best ever figures in a Test match are 9 for 134 against England at Nottingham in July 2007.
- Jesse Ryder registered his first duck in Tests. Despite his second ball duck, he is still averaging 55 in Test cricket – 771 in nine Tests at an average of 55.07, including two centuries and four fifties.
- Ryder (3 & 0), for the first time in a Test match, has recorded single-digit scores.
- The top five run-getters in the 2008-09 series are: Gautam Gambhir (445), Sachin Tendulkar (344), Jesse Ryder(327), Rahul Dravid (314) and VVS Laxman (295).
- Chris Martin (7/168) registered his best match figures against India. Martin, with 14 wickets at an average of 21.35 is the leading New Zealand wicket-taker in the 2008-09 series.
- Ross Taylor has recorded his first fifty against India – the fifth overall. In the second Test at Napier, he had registered 151 off 204 balls.
- McIntosh has averaged just 12.00 in the 2008-09 series against India – 60 in five innings.
- Martin Guptill has averaged 27.20 in the 2008-09 series against India – 136 in five innings.
- New Zealand were set a target of 617 to win the Test – the 15th time a target of 600 or more was set in the fourth innings of a Test match – the previous highest target faced by India’s opponent was 516 – by Australia at Mohali in 2008-09.
