New Zealand are Jim Moriarty to India’s Sherlock Holmes

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam,SportsCafe Editor

01/23/2020

If there was one takeaway from Jim Moriarty’s influence on Sherlock Holmes, it is that he could leave one of the best in the business clueless, asking for answers after losing. Well, India and New Zealand share a similar relationship in cricket, with India struggling to solve the Kiwi riddle.

In ‘The Adventure of Final Problem,’ one certain nemesis of Sherlock Holmes appeared and that is Professor Jim Moriarty. When T20 was still catching up in the 2007 World Cup, one certain New Zealand side were the only side to beat India in the tournament, and have been doing that ever since. Death, taxes, New Zealand defeating India; three certain things in life.

“An antagonist who was my intellectual equal,” Holmes said that he spent three months investigating Moriarty without much success. India, on the other hand, spent 13 years without much success against New Zealand. “Never have I risen to such a height, and never have I been so hard pressed by an opponent,” Holmes added.

Out of 129 games, India have won 80, losing 44 with a win percentage of 47.15. New Zealand, on the other end in the 126 games have won 61 and lost 56 with a win percentage of 52.03. Despite New Zealand winning 19 games less than India, whenever they have faced India, they have managed to put scores beyond the reach for Men in Blue.

While India have had their fair struggle against England and Australia, no side, I repeat no side has ever pressed them so hard like New Zealand. 55% win against Australia, 50% against England and Pakistan, it has always been high at 75%. However, one rivalry which has completely missed the radar is against New Zealand. Their constant trouble in T20Is has always been New Zealand, be it ICC events, be it at home or be it playing in the small-swinging in New Zealand.

India's struggle against New Zealand © ESPNCricinfo

The first time they faced New Zealand was in 2007 when all the teams were still at the naive stage when it came to the Twenty-20 format. After the storming win against Pakistan, the Kiwi side were awaiting India in a clash of titans. New Zealand went all-out immediately putting the eventual champions under attack. There was the first time that we saw India’s weakness which later went on to be exposed multiple times under the sun against Black Caps. Why does it make it so tough for the most successful of ones to get past their nemesis you wonder.

India in New Zealand:

Assessing the pattern is quite simple, India have been outwitted their own strength- chasing targets. India, predominantly a chasing side have won 43 games in the 63 (68% win record) they have played chasing, with six losses while chasing coming against New Zealand. The Kiwi side have excelled at choking the Indians while chasing, a thing which no other side has gotten close to in World Cricket. At first, playing in New Zealand might look like the easiest thing for sides, but as a sub-continent side, the green and tangy pitches in New Zealand are the worst. None of the Asian sides have a win percentage of over 50% away home in those conditions, with Pakistan nearest at 44%, winning less than half the games they have played. India and Sri Lanka, neighbouring countries have a similar result in New Zealand.

Packing punch, the New Zealand way © ESPNCricinfo

India’s struggle against the Kiwis come in a certain blueprint. For eg, the first T20I in the 2019 series at Wellington, India allowed the duo of Tim Seifert and Colin Munro to get off to an explosive start. After conceding 86 runs off 8 overs, India and Krunal Pandya got the wicket off Munro. The pattern of not picking up early wickets has cost India seven out of the eleven games that they have played. Traditionally, it has been the Kiwi openers, who have tormented India in the powerplay, before they continued the carnage throughout the middle overs. For India, they have not picked up early wickets, they have not contained the run flow in New Zealand, which has put them under constant pressure to chase down a mammoth total for victory.

Further, India’s strength lies in the pace department when it comes to the T20I format whenever they have won in the shortest-format. In the 80 matches, 242 innings between the pacers, they have picked up 311 wickets at an average of 20 giving away only 7.48 runs every over. On the other hand, spinners, who are claimed to be India’s lethal weapon in T20Is have struggled to perform. 251 wickets have been taken at an average of 18.92 at an economy rate of 6.78. New Zealand’s biggest strength in the powerplay is to face the pace bowlers, where India have struggled. On six of the occasions, New Zealand have gone on to score 150+, including four totals of 190+, which in a T20I kills the game off for the opposition.

The Pace attack that India has © ESPNCricinfo

India’s approach during chases in New Zealand:

India’s approach to the chase has let them down, with the openers getting out in simple fashion in six games out of the 11 against New Zealand, in the powerplay. The Wellington game too, Rohit got out early in the innings when India were 18/1 in 2.1 overs, chasing 221. However, inexperience in the middle order cost India the game as they tumbled out for 139 within the 20 overs.

When Indian openers play in New Zealand © ESPNCricinfo

Same series, same bowlers, different result this time around in Auckland while chasing against New Zealand. The key difference? Early wickets and in particular, Krunal Pandya’s spell in the middle overs against the home side. After Pandya, it was the turn of the pacers who picked up key wickets in the middle to restrict the home side to 158/8 after 20 overs, which is a below-par score in New Zealand.

However, the difference between games was that the Indian openers played long into the innings and whenever they played deep into the innings, India have won. Rohit holed out to the deep in the 10th over of the innings, after the score reached 79 runs, with the side needing exactly the same number of runs in the next ten with nine wickets left. The middle-order took the game till the death and killed it in the 19th over with some lusty blows. In this game, they have understood the Kiwi strength and played exactly to counter their advantage at home.

India's opening partnership during victories in New Zealand © ESPNCricinfo

India at home against New Zealand:

Further in India, where the conditions are on the slower side, it has been the spinners who have created havoc against the men in blue. To be clear, it is the Kiwi spinner who have created chaos in India and not the other way around. The most notable game for Kane Williamson and co in India came in 2016, in the World Cup at Nagpur, where India have had strangled other sides with spin webs.

Batting first, the Kiwi side mustered all their batting prowess to put up a total of 126/7. Corey Anderson top-scored, scoring 34 off 42 deliveries alongside 21 in quick-time by Luke Ronchi. It looks like an easy target for the chase-masters, right? Wrong! That’s exactly where all of us make assumptions. It is like saying that since Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar are greats in Test cricket, they must have scored a triple-century or like saying Sourav Ganguly, one of the best captains must have surely won the World Cup right.

Just like a thousand other assumptions that we make on a daily basis, India did not chase a meagre target of 127 at home. It is a fairly simple guess why. The spin trio- Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Nathan McCullum picked up nine of India’s wickets, bowling India out to 79. Let me give you a minute to digest that fact. The Indian batsmen are like the people who keep giving you all the advice when they themselves don’t follow them. India’s ploy of trapping the Kiwi batsmen by spin put themselves in big trouble and hence, the collapse was fairly just writing on the wall.

New Zealand picked up 9 wickets against India in 2016 T20 World Cup © ESPNCricinfo

Mind you, the duo of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have eight games in between them in India and picked up 13 wickets. They quickly started to become a terrifying name in the sub-continent, with their ability to do the curves with the ball.

Is that the end of the road for India?

However, it is not the end of the World for the Indian team. They have won a solitary game in New Zealand, the game which will be the blueprint for Virat Kohli and men for the upcoming T20I series. Fairly easily to point out that India will win if they have a good opening wicket partnership. Well, partly true, because that is how most of the T20s’ is won in the world. However, for India, it is crucial for the openers to fire, for the middle order to buildup on the start and more crucial for the bowlers to do something.

In the past, Indian skippers have begged their bowlers to pick up wickets, however, this time Kohli will be the luckiest of Indian skippers, with an impeccable bowling unit, consisting of India’s once in a lifetime bowler Jasprit Bumrah. He will be joined by some of the top-form bowlers, with Mohammad Shami, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur. India’s middle order, since then has improved drastically with the addition of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, which could very well be India’s best chance of breaking the ‘Moriarty-code,’ which has haunted them ever since 2007.