ndia A huddle during day two of the match between Australia A and India A (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
It is a hard pill to swallow for Indian cricket, and the pain will hurt for some time. As the dust settles on India’s historic Test-series defeat against New Zealand at home, RG dissects the numbers behind the colossal failure of the Indian batters and bowling line-up.
0-3 – India’s first series sweep defeat at home in a three-plus match series
India’s 0-3 loss was the first time in their Test cricket history that a visiting team has swept a three-plus match series against them at home. The only other time when India has been swept away at home (in a two-plus match series) was against Hansie Cronje’s South Africa in 2000. Interestingly, the venues were Bengaluru and Mumbai!
3 – The three Tests New Zealand won in the series were the most they have won in any series either at home or away
New Zealand 3-0 sweep was the first ever instance in their Test history when they have won three matches in a Test series – either home or away. This is a startling statistic and another one which tells you why the series win against India is New Zealand’s greatest triumph ever!
1-31 – Mumbai was India’s first loss chasing a sub-200 target at home
India dipped to a new low at the Wankhede in Mumbai succumbing to their first defeat chasing a target less than 200 at home. They had previously won all the 31 matches on home soil where the target in the fourth innings was less than 200.
4 – The number of Test defeats for India in India in 2024
India has lost four home Tests in India this year which are the joint-most defeats in a year for them in the format. The nly other year when they lost four Tests was 1969.
6 – Number of times India has been bowled out for less than 160 3+ times in a home series
33.8 vs 39.7 – The bowling strike rate of New Zealand and Indian spinners in the series
New Zealand spinners achieved the rare feat of achieving a better bowling strike rate in the 3-0 sweep than their more famed Indian counterparts. New Zealand spinners picked a wicket every 34 balls approximately while the Indian spinners took nearly 40 deliveries to bag a wicket.
22.6 vs 24.7 – The batting average vs spin of India & NZ batters in the series
India lost 40 wickets against the New Zealand spinners in the three Tests at an average of 22.6 and balls per wicket of 31.3. On the other hand, the Kiwi batters lost 45 wickets against the Indian spinners but at a slightly better average of 24.7. They also faced more balls per dismissal (38.9).
73.7% - Rohit Sharma’s Failure Rate at home in 2024
Rohit Sharma failed in 14 of the 19 innings at home in Tests in 2024 – which is a very high Failure Rate of almost 74% - basically failing in three of every four innings he batted this year on Indian soil. Rohit scored 533 runs in 19 innings in 2024 at a poor average of 28.05. Rohit has failed in nine of his last 10 innings at home with just one fifty-plus score.
70% - Virat Kohli’s Failure Rate at home in 2024
Virat Kohli failed in 7 of the 10 innings at home in Tests in 2024 – again, a high Failure Rate of 70%! He scored just 192 runs at an average of 21.33 with one fifty-plus score in India in 2024. The combined failure of two of their best batters – Rohit and Kohli – at home in Tests this year – was the major reason for India’s poor run in India in 2024.
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
