“The bat is not a toy; it’s a weapon”, most of the cricket lovers must know this very sentence said by the King Kohli. The game of cricket between any two teams is always filled with grit, passion, heated moments, along with the spirit of sportsmanship. The tale of the rivalry between the Indian and New Zealand cricket teams is also filled with zeal, fervor, and determination. Both the cricketing giants have encountered each other at various ICC tournaments as well as International matches. The India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline provides a description of the matches and encounters of both teams across all the formats – Test matches, ODIs, and T20Is.
1955 to 1975: Era of Indian Dominance
Between the time period of 1955-1975, the Indian and New Zealand teams have played a set of 17 matches, out of which the Indian team has asserted its upper hand by winning 7 matches, the Black Caps managed to bag 3 victories to their name, and 7 games ended up being drawn. The India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline provides details about the encounters between the teams.
- 1955-1956 India v New Zealand (Test): The 5 match test series was hosted by India. The Indian team won the series 2-0, as three matches were drawn. The 2nd and the 5th matches of the test match series were won by the Indian team. The key performers for the Indian team were Pankaj Roy, Mulvantrai Mankad, Amritsar Kripal Singh, Subhash Gupte, Mulvantrai Mankad, Polly Umrigar, and Jasubhai Patel.
- 1964-1965 India v New Zealand (4th Test): The 4th Test match of the series was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on 19th March, 1965. The Indian team won the 4th test match by 7 wickets. Some of the notable performances were given by Srinivas Venkataraghavan(a total of 12 wickets), Dilip Sardesai(134 runs), Nawab of Pataudi Jr(142 runs), Chandu Borde(87 runs), and Hanumant Singh(82 runs).
- 1967-1968 New Zealand v India (Test): The 2nd and 4th test of the series was played at the AMI Stadium and Eden Park, respectively. The 2nd test was won by the New Zealand team, and the 4th test was clinched by the Black Caps. Key performers for the New Zealand team were Graham Dowling, Bruce Murray, Richard Motz, Gary Bartlett, and Bruce Taylor.
- 1969-1970 India v New Zealand (2nd Test): Batting first, the New Zealand team set the targets of 319 & 214 runs in the first and second innings, respectively. In the run chase, the Indian team was restricted to a total of 257 & 109 runs in the first and second innings, respectively.
- 1975 Prudential World Cup (ODI): The first ever ODI match that the Indian and New Zealand teams have played was on 14th June, 1975 at Old Trafford in the 1975 Prudential World Cup. The Black Caps won the 10th league match of the cup by 4 wickets. Glenn Turner was given the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten knock of 114 runs.
1976 to 1996: Continued Indian Dominance
From the period of 1976-1996, the Black Caps and the Indian teams have played a total of 59 matches. The Men in Blue have clinched a total of 29 matches, whereas the Black Caps have won 21 matches, and 9 matches resulted in a draw. The India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline sheds light on the encounters between the teams across the two formats of Test and ODIs.
- 1975-1976 New Zealand v India (Test): The 1st and 3rd test match of the 5-match series was played at the Eden Park and the Basin Reserve, respectively. The 1st test match was won by the Indian team by 8 wickets. Crucial performers for the Indian team were Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapally Prasanna, Sunil Gavaskar, Surinder Amarnath, and Mohinder Amarnath.
In the 3rd match, the victory was claimed by the Black Caps by an innings and 33 runs. Key performers for them were Richard Hadlee, Dayle Hadlee, Lance Cairns, Glenn Turner, and Mark Burgess.
- 1976-1977 India v New Zealand (3rd Test): The 3rd test match was played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on 26th November, 1976. The Indian team won the match by 216 runs. Commendable performances for the team were given by Gundappa Viswanath, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Bishen Bedi, and Sunil Gavaskar.
- 1979 Prudential World Cup (ODI): The 6th match of the cup was played at Headingley, Leeds, on 13th June, 1979. Batting first, the Indian team set the target of 182 runs with knocks from Sunil Gavaskar(55 runs), Brijesh Patel(38 runs), and Kapil Dev(25 runs). In reply, the Black Caps chased the target in 57 overs with the aid of crucial knocks from John Wright(48 runs), Bruce Edgar(84 runs*), and Glenn Turner(43 runs*).
- 1984-1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship (ODI, 1st Semi-final): The 1st semi-final of the championship was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 5th March, 1985, between the Indian and New Zealand teams. The Indian team registered their spot for the final match by winning by 7 wickets. Ravi Shastri was awarded the Player of the Match award for his incredible all-around performance of 53 runs and 3 wickets.
- 1987-1988 Reliance World Cup (ODI): The 8th and the 24th matches of the tournament were played between the Black Caps and the Men in Blue team. The Indian team won both the matches by 16 runs and 9 wickets, respectively. Key performers for the Indian team were Navjot Sidhu, Kapil Dev, Kiran More, Ravi Shastri, Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma, Kris Srikkanth, Sunil Gavaskar, and Mohammad Azharuddin.
- 1987-1988 Sharjah Cup (ODI, Final): The final and concluding match of the cup was played on 1st April, 1988 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Batting first, the Indian team set the target of 250 runs with knocks from Mohinder Amarnath(58 runs), Ravi Shastri(72 runs), and Kapil Dev(49 runs*). In the run chase, the Black Caps were restricted to a mere total of 198 runs, with the major wicket taker being Narendra Hirwani(4 wickets).
- 1991-1992 Benson & Hedges World Cup (ODI): The 27th match of the cup was played at the Carisbrook, Dunedin, on 12th March 1992. The Black Caps won the match by 4 wickets. Mark Greatbatch was given the Player of the Match award for his performance of 73 runs.
- 1994-1995 Wills World Series (ODI): The 3rd and the 6th matches of the series were played at the Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, and the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. The Indian team won both the matches by 7 wickets and 107 runs, respectively. The key performers for the Indian team were Manoj Prabhakar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Mohammad Azharuddin, and Venkatapathy Raju.
- 1995-1996 India v New Zealand (1st Test): The first test match of the series, which was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, was won by the Indian team by 8 wickets. Mohammad Azharuddin was given the Player of the Match award for his brilliant knock of 87 runs.
1997 to 2017: Hard Battle for Dominance
The New Zealand and Indian teams have played a total of 90 matches between the time period of 1997-2017. The Men in Blue bagged 38 matches, while the Black Caps were able to bag 36 matches; 10 matches ended up being drawn, 5 matches gave no result, and 1 match ended up being tied. The India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline provides a detailed analysis of the encounters between the teams across all formats – Test, ODI, and T20Is.
- 1998-1999 New Zealand v India (2nd Test): The 2nd match of the series was played at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, on 26th December, 1998. Batting first, the Indian team set the targets of 208 & 356 runs in the first and the second innings, respectively. In the reply, the Black Caps scored a total of 352 & 215 runs in both their innings and clinched victory by 4 wickets.
- 1999 ICC World Cup (ODI): The 38th league match of the cup was played between the New Zealand and Indian teams at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on 12th June 1999. The Black Caps won the match by 5 wickets, and Roger Twose was given the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten knock of 60 runs off 77 balls.
- 2000-2001 ICC Knock-Out (ODI, Final): The deciding match of the ICC Knock-out 2000-2001 was played at the Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi, on 15th October, 2000, between the Men in Blue and the Black Caps. The New Zealand team won the final match by 4 wickets.
- 2002-2003 ICC World Cup (ODI): The 49th match of the cup was played at the SuperSport Park on 14th March 2003. Batting first, the Black Caps set the target of 146 runs with knocks from Stephen Fleming(30 runs) and Jacob Oram(23 runs). In reply, the Indian team chased the target easily in 40.4 overs with the aid of crucial knocks from Mohammad Kaif(68 runs*) and Rahul Dravid(53 runs*).
- 2007-2008 ICC World Twenty20: The Black Caps set the total of 190 runs, batting first. In the run chase, the Indian team was restricted to a total of 180 runs, just 10 runs shy form the target, with the major wicket taker being Daniel Vettori(4 wickets). Daniel Vittori was given the Player of the Match for his splendid bowling spell.
- 2015-2016 ICC World Twenty20: The 13th match of the T20 World Cup was played on 15th March, 2016, amongst the Indian and New Zealand teams at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. The Black Caps won the match by 47 runs. Mitchell Santner was awarded the Player of the Match award for his splendid bowling spell of 4 overs, 11 runs, and 4 wickets.
- 2016-2017 India v New Zealand (Test): The 3rd test match of the 2016-2017 test series was played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on 8th October, 2016. The Indian team won the match by a huge margin of 321 runs. The key performers for the Indian team were Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Gautam Gambhir.
- 2017-2018 India v New Zealand (ODI): In the 50-over match played at the Green Park, Kanpur, the Men in Blue registered a win by a bare margin of just 6 runs. Commendable performers for the match were Rohit Sharma(147 runs), Virat Kohli(113 runs), Jasprit Bumrah(3 wickets), and Yuzvendra Chahal(2 wickets).
2018 to 2025: Recent Clashes
Between the years 2018-2025, the Men in Blue and the Black Caps have played a set of 44 matches, out of which the Men in Blue have won 24 matches, whereas the Balck Caps have clinched 16 games, 1 match ended up being drawn, 2 matches gave no result, and 1 match ended being a tie. The India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline provides a brief analysis of the encounters between the teams.
- 2019 ICC World Cup (ODI, 1st Semi-final): The 1st semi-final of the cup was played at Old Trafford on 9th July, 2019, between New Zealand and the Indian team. The New Zealand team won the match by a margin of 18 runs, and Matt Henry was given the Player of the Match award for his splendid bowling spell of 3 wickets.
- 2021 ICC T20 World Cup: In the 28th league match, the New Zealand team won the toss and opted to bowl first. Batting first, the Men in Blue set a low-scoring target of 110 runs with the loss of 7 wickets. In the run chase, New Zealand chased down the target easily in just 14.3 overs with major knocks from Daryl Mitchell(49 runs) and Kane Williamson(33 runs*).
- 2021-2022 India v New Zealand (2nd Test): The Indian team won the 2nd test match of the 2021-2022 India v New Zealand series by a big margin of 372 runs. Batting first, the Indian team set the totals of 325 & 276 runs in the first and second innings, respectively. In reply, the Black Caps were restricted to the totals of 62 & 167 runs in the first and second innings, respectively. The major wicket-takers for the Indian team were Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, and Jayant Yadav.
- 2023 ICC World Cup (ODI, 1st Semi-final): The 1st semi-final match of the cup was played at the Wankhede Stadium between New Zealand and the Indian team. The Indian team secured their spot in the final by winning the match by a margin of 70 runs. The major performers for the Indian team were Rohit Sharma(47 runs), Shubman Gill(80 runs*), Virat Kohli(117 runs), Shreyas Iyer(105 runs), KL Rahul(39 runs), and Mohammed Shami(7 wickets).
- 2024-2025 ICC Champions Trophy (ODI, Final): The concluding match of the 2024-2025 ICC Champions Trophy was played between the Black Caps and the Men in Blue at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Indian team became the champion by winning the match by 4 wickets. Rohit Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match award for his crucial batting performance of 76 runs off 83 balls.
India vs New Zealand All Tests Series results 2024–1955:
| Series | Year | Series Winner | Win Margin |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2024/25 | New Zealand | 3-0 (3) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2021/22 | India | 1-0 (2) |
| India v New Zealand Test Match (in England) | 2021 | New Zealand | 1-0 (1) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 2019/20 | New Zealand | 2-0 (2) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2016/17 | India | 3-0 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 2013/14 | New Zealand | 1-0 (2) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2012 | India | 2-0 (2) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2010/11 | India | 1-0 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 2008/09 | India | 1-0 (3) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 2003/04 | drawn | 0-0 (2) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 2002/03 | New Zealand | 2-0 (2) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1999/00 | India | 1-0 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 1998/99 | New Zealand | 1-0 (2) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1995/96 | India | 1-0 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Match | 1993/94 | drawn | 0-0 (1) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 1989/90 | New Zealand | 1-0 (3) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1988/89 | India | 2-1 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 1980/81 | New Zealand | 1-0 (3) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1976/77 | India | 2-0 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 1975/76 | drawn | 1-1 (3) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1969/70 | drawn | 1-1 (3) |
| India in New Zealand Test Series | 1967/68 | India | 3-1 (4) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1964/65 | India | 1-0 (4) |
| New Zealand in India Test Series | 1955/56 | India | 2-0 (5) |
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