6 New Zealand became only the sixth visiting team to beat India in a bilateral series in India’s longest format, on their 13th visit to these shores. In their first 12 visits, New Zealand had won just two Tests in India, the last of which came in November 1988.

Series wins in India

18 Before this defeat, India claimed consecutive victories at home. Their last home defeat came in 2012/13 when England won 2-1 in the four-Test match. India’s 18 is the longest streak of bilateral series wins (including one-off Tests) for a team at home, while Australia is a distant second with ten series wins in two separate periods (1994/95 to 2000/01 and 2004 to 2008/09). The last time India lost the first two Tests of a home match was against South Africa in 1999-00.

3This was only the third time India lost three or more Tests in a calendar year at home. They lost four in 1969 (three against Australia and one against New Zealand) and three in 1983 (three against West Indies). Before the 2-0 loss to New Zealand, India lost to England in Hyderabad earlier this year.

4 Defeats for Rohit Sharma in 15 Tests at home as captain – the second most defeats for an Indian captain. MAK Pataudi tops the list with nine defeats, followed by four in 20 Tests each for Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin.

New Zealand secured a historic series victory with victory in Pune. ©BCCI

Mitchell Santner comes to the party

13/157 by Santner (7/53 & 6/104) is the third best match figures for a New Zealand bowler behind Richard Hadlee’s 15/123 against Australia at the Gabba in 1985 and Ajaz Patel’s 14/224 at the Wankhede Stadium three years ago.

Best playing numbers for New Zealand

3 Santner became only the third bowler to take 13 wickets or more in a Test against India, after Ajaz Patel’s 14/224 in 2021 and Ian Botham’s 13/106 in 1980, both at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

2 Santner became only the second New Zealand spinner to score five balls in both innings of a Test, after Daniel Vettori, who did it twice: 5/62 and 7/87 against Australia in Auckland in 2000 and 6/70 and 6/100 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2004.

Spinner day trip

37 Wickets taken by spinners in this Test – the most wickets taken in a match played on Indian soil. In the match between the same two teams in Nagpur in 1969, 37 wickets fell, which incidentally was New Zealand’s first ever Test victory in India. There have only been two other Tests in which spinners have taken more wickets – 38 each in the Test between Sri Lanka and England at Pallekele in 2018 and again between Bangladesh and Afghanistan at Chattogram in 2019.

8 This was only the eighth time that two spinners took 10-wicket hauls in a Test – Santner with 13/157 and Washington Sundar with 11/115. The last such case occurred in Galle in 2008 when Ajantha Mendis polled 10/209 while Harbhajan Singh answered 10/153. Incidentally, neither Santner nor Sundar had taken a five-wicket haul in Tests before this game.

11/115 of Washington happen to be the second-best match totals for India, which ended in defeat. The only better figures came from Javagal Srinath, who scored 13/132 against Pakistan in the 1999 Asian Test Championship match at the Eden Gardens.

1056 Yashasvi Jaiswal’s runs are the most runs in a calendar year for a batsman in India, surpassing Gundappa Viswanath’s 1047 runs in 1979. Jaiswal became only the sixth batsman overall, after Viswanath and Sunil Gavaskar (both in 1979), and the third Indian to reach 1000 in total + achieved runs in a calendar year at home.