History backs Men In Blue: Team India have never lost a bilateral ODI series to New Zealand

New Delhi, Oct 13: Team India under the leadership of limited overs' skipper MS Dhoni will lock horns with Kane Williamson-led New Zealand in the 5-ODI series, starting October 16.

Ind-NZ series schedule; India's squad for first 3 ODIs

As the focus shifts towards limited overs, MS Dhoni would be hoping to repeat what Virat Kohli-led squad did to the Black Caps in the Test series i.e. complete a clean sweep by winning the series 5-nil against visitors.

India defeated New Zealand 3-0 in the three-Test series and reached at the top of ICC Test rankings with the impressive performance.

Despite having a record of 18-11 wins over India in the multi-nation series, Kiwis have failed to offer stiff challenge to the Indians in bilateral contests on Indian soil.

Men In Blue have always dominated the Black Caps in the four bilateral ODI series contested so far.

Between 1988 to 2010, New Zealand toured India four times (1988, 1995, 1999 and 2010) and each time the home side turned victorious.

In 1988:

It was the first time when Kiwis played bilateral ODI series against India. John Wright, who later became India's Head Coach, was the skipper of the New Zealand squad. While Men In Blue were led by Dilip Vengsarkar. India defeated Kiwis 4-0, following their 2-1 victory in the Tests.

In 1995:

Mohammad Azharuddin-led Indian side won the six-ODI series 3-2 over Lee Germon. New Zealand took the lead by winning the series opener in Jamshedpur. Martin Crowe scored an unbeaten hundred in that game.

India won the second and fourth matches to take the advantage, while the third match was abandoned. The visitors, however, bounced back to win the 5th ODI at Nagpur by 99-runs to set up the decider nicely. India comfortably defeated Kiwis in the sixth ODI to clinch series.

In 1999:

Team India repeated a similar story, defeating New Zealand 3-2, four years' later under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar. Both the teams played a decider fifth game after going 2-2 in the first four games. India went on winning the series by outclassing the Kiwis in the final ODI by 7 wickets after restricting them to 179/9.

This series is best remembered for the record 331-run stand for second wicket between Sachin Tendulkar (186*) and Rahul Dravid (153) as India posted 376/2 in 50 overs in the second match in Hyderabad. This record was broken by Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels in February, 2015 when the duo put up a partnership of 372 against Zimbabwe in World Cup 2015.

2010:

New Zealand played another bilateral series against India after a gap of 11 years but suffered biggest humiliation this time. Team India under the leadership of stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir whitewashed the Black Caps 5-0. Regular skipper MS Dhoni missed this series due to injury.

The Ross Taylor-led New Zealand squad came closest to winning a match, during this tour, in the fourth ODI when they set a target of 316 for the Indians and later had the hosts 108/4. But Yusuf Pathan blitzkrieg with the bat - 123 from 96 balls -powered India to another incredible run chase.

This series is best remembered for Gambhir's performance with the bat and his aggressive captaincy. The left-handed batsman from Delhi led the young Indian side from the front and hit two back-to-back hundreds in second and third ODI.

Here are the Scorecards of all 5 games:

Thus, it will be interesting to see if Team India take the psychological advantage of Test series win over New Zealand to continue their dominance in ODIs as well, or the Kane Williamson-led side, which ranks third in ODIs, offers any resistance to MSD and company.

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