In a landmark achievement that will be remembered as a defining moment in New Zealand cricket, the team secured a sensational series victory against India on Indian soil in the longest format of the game. This remarkable feat marks only the sixth instance of a visiting team emerging victorious in a bilateral Test series in India. As they made their 13th visit to these shores, New Zealand’s cricketers had previously managed to secure just two Test wins in the country, with the last triumph occurring way back in November 1988.
For India, this series loss on home ground ended an extraordinary run of 18 consecutive series victories at home. The last defeat India experienced on their own turf happened in the 2012/13 season when England edged out India 2-1 in a four-Test series. India’s streak of 18 home series wins remains the longest in the history of Test cricket, far surpassing Australia’s second-place record of ten consecutive home series wins, achieved twice, between 1994/95 to 2000/01 and 2004 to 2008/09. Furthermore, this series marked the first occasion since the 1999/00 season, against South Africa, that India lost the first two Tests of a home series.
Adding another layer to this historic encounter, it was only the third time in the annals of Indian cricket that the nation lost three or more Tests at home in a single calendar year. The previous instances were in 1969 when they lost four Tests (three against Australia and one against New Zealand) and in 1983 when they were defeated in three matches by the West Indies. Prior to the 0-2 defeat to New Zealand, India had also suffered a setback against England in Hyderabad earlier in the same year.
Under the leadership of captain Rohit Sharma, India endured four home Test defeats out of 15 matches, placing him joint-second for the most defeats by an Indian captain at home. The record is headed by MAK Pataudi, with nine defeats, followed by Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin, each with four defeats in 20 Tests.
The heroics for New Zealand came largely thanks to the outstanding performance of Mitchell Santner, whose 13 wickets for 157 runs (7/53 & 6/104) rank as the third-best match figures for a New Zealand bowler.
. Only Richard Hadlee’s 15/123 against Australia in 1985 and Ajaz Patel’s 14/224 at the Wankhede Stadium rank higher in New Zealand’s cricket history.
Santner’s remarkable achievement placed him among an elite group; he became just the third bowler to take 13 wickets or more against India in a Test match. He joins the likes of Ajaz Patel, who achieved 14/224 in 2021, and England’s Ian Botham, who managed 13/106 in 1980, both at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Additionally, Santner becomes only the second New Zealand spinner to claim five-fers in both innings of a Test match, mirroring the achievements of Daniel Vettori who accomplished this twice, against Australia in 2000 and Bangladesh in 2004.
The grip of the spinners was a significant feature of this Test match, with 37 wickets falling to spin bowlers—a record for a Test on Indian soil. The previous occasion this occurred was in Nagpur in 1969, during what was notably New Zealand’s first-ever Test win in India. The total number of wickets in a match—37—was only surpassed twice in cricket history, with 38 spinners’ wickets recorded in Tests between Sri Lanka and England in 2018 and later between Bangladesh and Afghanistan in 2019.
Another remarkable individual performance came from Washington Sundar who took 11/115 in the match, marking the second-best figures for an Indian in a defeat. Only Javagal Srinath’s heroics of 13/132 against Pakistan in the 1999 Asian Test Championship stands ahead of him.
India’s burgeoning talent, Yashasvi Jaiswal, too made history, accumulating 1056 runs in the calendar year—the most ever by a batter on Indian soil. This achievement surpasses Gundappa Viswanath’s 1047 runs in 1979, making Jaiswal only the sixth player overall and the third Indian, alongside Viswanath and Sunil Gavaskar, to breach the 1000-run barrier at home in a single year.
This series will go down as a monumental chapter in cricketing history—a testament to New Zealand’s tenacity and skill, as they etched their names in the annals of cricket lore with an unforgettable conquest in one of the most challenging venues in the sport.