The voyage continues, from Manchester in 2019 to Mumbai in 2023. Four years later, India and New Zealand would meet in the World Cup’s inaugural semifinal. Similarly to 2019, India’s road to the semi-finals has been consistently straightforward, whilst New Zealand’s trip has been more unexpected, but they’ve managed to overcome obstacles.
The hosts have trounced the most of their opponents in this competition, but New Zealand is confident since they were the only side to give a substantial challenge to Rohit and his squad throughout the league stage. Indian bowlers have been miles ahead of the others and will once again be the game changer.
Here are India’s top five wicket-takers against New Zealand in ODIs:
5. Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami, one of India’s top white ball players, made an impressive comeback to the team in their league encounter against New Zealand in Dharamsala. Shami took five wickets and has never looked back since.
Against the Kiwis, he has 30 wickets in 13 games with an average of 21.93 and a strike rate of 21. He will yet again be the pillar for the hosts who will clash with New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium of Mumbai.
4. Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan personified the qualities that formerly distinguished Pakistani fast bowlers. He was fantastic with the new ball and inverted the old.
He performed admirably on flat subcontinent fields and even flew in favorable circumstances abroad. He was skilled with all three sorts of balls, including SG, Duke, and Kookaburra.
Zaheer has 30 wickets in 22 matches against New Zealand. He has taken these wickets with a strike rate of 32 and an average of 27.73.
3. Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev is India’s best pace bowler and the world’s leading fast-bowling all-rounder. His exceptional leadership, as demonstrated by inspiring his team to emerge victorious during the 1983 World Cup.
Kapil Dev’s path to 431 wickets was a marathon runner’s endurance, demonstrating his everlasting devotion and brilliance in the cricketing field.
In 29 appearances against New Zealand, he took 33 wickets at an average of 27.60. His strike rate is 48 percent, and his best performance against New Zealand was 3 for 26.
2. Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is India’s most successful Test bowler, and maybe one of the most tenacious as well. Kumble was a part of every major bowling record throughout his outstanding but sometimes underrated career.
at 1999, at Delhi, he accomplished the unusual achievement of collecting all ten wickets in a single innings against Pakistan. Kumble became the country’s first spinner to record 300 Test wickets in December 2001, on his home field in Bangalore.
He took 39 ODI wickets in 31 matches against New Zealand, with an average of 27.84 and a strike rate of 40.6.
1. Javagal Srinath
After Kapil Dev’s famous swing that had caught the public’s attention, Javagal Srinath-possibly one of India’s quickest bowlers—marked a rebirth for speed bowling in the nation. He finished second behind Kapil in the list of Indian pacemen with Test wickets when he announced his retirement from international cricket after 11 years of service.
Enjoying himself, he tops this group with 51 wickets at 20.41 average and 31 strike rate against New Zealand.