India or New Zealand Advantage In World Cups: Team India is looking for their 3rd World Cup title, while New Zealand is hoping to get to their second successive World Cup final. The knock-out stage start with the first semifinal where India will take on New Zealand in Manchester on Tuesday. India finished top on the table with 15 points and they lost just one game against England. On the other side, New Zealand finished fourth with 11 points and they moved in to the semis by beating Pakistan on a better run rate.
India and New Zealand Battles in World Cup History
India and New Zealand had key battles in the world cup. Both teams played 8 games in the world cup. While India have won 3 games, New Zealand have the advantage winning 4 matches. One games was washed out. Though New Zealand seem to have an advantage over India in the World Cups but the reality has been different in last one decade as India didn’t play a full game against the Kiwis in World Cup since 2003 and have been the superior side overall. They would have played their first game in years in the World Cup, when they were supposed to meet in Nottingham, but the game was abandoned.
India-New Zealand played for the first time in the 1975 World Cup where New Zealand beat India in Manchester by 4 wickets. Turner scored 114 not out against India. India lost again in 1979 by 8 wickets as Gavaskar’s lone fight wasn’t enough for India.
Then in India’s title winning campaign in 1983, India did not meet the Kiwis. India then took the revenge of the 1975 and 1979 World Cups at the 1987 edition where they beat New Zealand two times. In the league game, India beat Kiwis by 16 runs in Bengaluru in a crunch game. India defended a total of 257. Sidhu scored 75 and Kapil Dev was not out on 52. They beat them again in Nagpur easily by 9 wickets and reached the semifinal. Chetan Sharma was the star of the match, becoming the first player from India to take a World Cup hattrick. Gavaskar did the damage with the bat in hand, scoring a hundred in the chase of 222.
New Zealand took the lead over India when they played in Dunedin in the 1992 world cup. New Zealand were the favourites, led by Martin Crowe. Though Sachin put in a valiant effort to score a quick fire 84, becoming the youngest player to score a fifty in World Cup. The match is remembered for this very reason.
In 1999, India faced Kiwis in Nottingham. New Zealand again defeated India by 5 wickets. It was the 3rd defeat for India in England against New Zealand in World Cup cricket.
In 2003, India took revenge, as they beat New Zealand in Centurion by 7 wickets on their way to the World Cup final. Zaheer Khan picked four wivcket and the duo of Kaif-Dravid chased 147 runs easily. India was the. To everyone’s disappointment, the games at the 2019 edition of the World Cup was washed out.
If we figure out the all clashes between India and New Zealand, the chasing team has got the upper hand. There has been only one instance where the team defending a total has won. Though the results at this World Cup suggests otherwise. It would be interesting to see what the team winning the toss decided to do.
India’s record against New Zealand in England is hapless, having lost all their games. India lost to New Zealand even recently in the warm-up game.
India will play this game in Manchester and surprisingly, both teams played their first game on the same ground in 1975 and New Zealand won that game.
Fans would expect India to equal the scoreline on Tuesday. Final will be played on 14 July in Lord’s.
