New Zealand vs India: Brendon McCullum becomes eighth captain to score triple ton

# McCullum is the eighth captain in Test annals to post an innings of 300 or more. West Indian, Brian Lara holds a record by registering an unbeaten 400 vs England at St.John's in April 2004. (Match report | Scorecard | Day 5 pics)

# McCullum is the only batsman to post a triple hundred in India-New Zealand Tests.

# Brendon McCullum (302) is the first New Zealand batsman to register a triple hundred in Tests, bettering Martin Crowe's 299 vs Sri Lanka at Wellington in January/February 1991. (India look for rare positives after horrid tour to New Zealand)

# McCullum is the second batsman in Test annals to record a triple hundred in the second innings - the first being Hanif Mohammad's 337 for Pakistan vs West Indies at Bridgetown in January 1958. McCullum is the first captain to accomplish the said feat in the second innings of a Test match. (Drawn Wellington Test helps India maintain 2nd Test team rank)

# Apart from Brian Lara and Brendon McCullum, the six other captains to have recorded triple hundreds in Tests are Bobby Simpson (Australia) - 311 vs England at Manchester in 1964; Graham Gooch (England) - 333 vs India at Lord's in July 1990; Mark Taylor (Australia) - 334 not out vs Pakistan at Peshawar in October 1998; Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) - 374 vs South Africa at Colombo, SSC in July 2006; Younis Khan (Pakistan) - 313 vs Sri Lanka at Karachi in February 2009 and Michael Clarke (Australia) - 329 not out vs India at Sydney in January 2012.

# McCullum has batted for 775 minutes - the longest by a New Zealander and the eighth longest in Test annals.

# McCullum's tally of 535 runs at an average of 133.75 is a record by any captain in a two-Test series, surpassing Mahela Jayawardene's aggregate of 510 (ave.170.00) vs South Africa in 2006.

# McCullum, in only ten Tests vs India, has managed 1224 runs at an average of 68.00, including four hundreds - a New Zealand record against India.

# McCullum has been adjudged the Man of the Match four times - three times vs India. All his innings of 200 or more have earned him the MOM awards in Tests.

# Since winning by 2-0 in 2002-03 at home, New Zealand have won their first Test series against India. After a drawn series in 2003-04, they had lost the next three series to India in 2008-09; 2010-11 and 2012.

# New Zealand, after beating Sri Lanka by 1-0 in 2004-05; Zimbabwe by 2-0 in 2005 and West Indies by 2-0 in 2005-06, have won two successive Test series for the first time.

# Since beating West Indies by 1-0 in 2011 in the Caribbean, India have lost four successive Test series away from home - 0/4 to England in 2011; 0/4 to Australia in 2011-12; 0-1 to South Africa in 2013-14 & 0-1 to New Zealand in 2013-14.

# New Zealand's 680 for eight wickets declared is their highest total in Tests, obliterating the 671 for four vs Sri Lanka at Wellington in January/February 1991. These two totals are the two top scores in the second innings by any Team in Tests.

# New Zealand's previous highest vs India was 630 for six wickets declared at Mohali in October 2003. Of their top four totals, New Zealand have registered three against India - the other being 619 for nine wickets declared at Napier in March 2009.

# Zaheer Khan (5/170) has produced his eleventh five-wicket haul in Tests - his fourth vs New Zealand - all in New Zealand - three at Wellington and one at Hamilton.

# For the first time, Zaheer has conceded 100 runs or more while capturing five wickets in a Test innings. For the first time, he has bowled 50 overs or more in an innings.

# Zaheer has conceded 170 runs in the second innings - the most by an Indian fast bowler in a Test innings outside the sub-continent - the second highest overall, next only to Kapil Dev's 220 (38.4-3-220-7) vs Pakistan at Faisalabad in January 11983.

# Zaheer has produced eight five-wicket hauls in Tests away from home.

# Zaheer is the first visiting bowler to produce three five-wicket hauls at Wellington. His tally of 17 wickets (ave.24.41) in three Tests is a record by any bowler vs New Zealand at Basin Reserve, surpassing the 16 (ave.17.00) in three Tests by Courtney Walsh.

# Only Chris Martin has claimed more five-wicket hauls (four) than Zaheer at Wellington. Sir Richard Hadlee had taken five wickets or more in an innings at this venue three times.

# Zaheer is the first Indian bowler to register four five-wicket hauls in Tests in New Zealand.

# Jimmy Neesham, with his unbeaten 137, has set a record as number eight batsman posting the highest individual innings on Test debut, eclipsing Azhar Mahmood's 128 not out for Pakistan vs South Africa at Rawalpindi in October 1997.

# Two other New Zealanders have registered hundreds as number eight batsmen - Scott Styris - 107 vs West Indies at St.George's in June 2002 and Bruce Taylor - 105 vs India at Kolkata in March 1965.

# Overall seven batsmen have registered hundreds while batting at number eighth position on Test debut. Apart from Neesham, Styris, Taylor and Azhar, Australia's Roger Hartigan, India's Deepak Shodhan and Sri Lanka's Thilan Samaraweera have recorded hundreds at this batting position on debut in Tests.

# Neesham's unbeaten 137 is the second highest by New Zealand's number eight batsman in Tests - the highest being 140 by Daniel Vettori vs Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC) in August 2009.

# Neesham's hundred is the tenth by a New Zealander on Test debut.

# Virat Kohli's unbeaten 105 is his first Test hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match.

# Kohli is the fourth Indian batsman to post a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match against New Zealand, joining Rahul Dravid (103 not out) and Sourav Ganguly (101 not out) - both at Hamilton in January 1999 and Shikhar Dhawan (115 at Auckland in February 2014).

# Kohli's third Test hundred away from home is his sixth in Tests - his first two overseas hundreds being 116 vs Australia at Adelaide in January 2012 and 119 vs South Africa at Johannesburg in December 2013.

# Kohli's unbeaten innings is his highest Test score against New Zealand - his only other hundred against them being 103 at Bangalore in 2012.

# Shikhar Dhawan has top-scored for India in the series - 215 (ave.53.75) in four innings, followed by Virat Kohli - 214 (ave.71.33).

# Ishant Sharma, with 15 wickets at an average of 25.13, has finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series - his best performance in a two-Test series.

# Mahendra Singh Dhoni's tally of 19 dismissals in four Tests is an Indian record by a wicketkeeper vs New Zealand in New Zealand in Tests.

# Bradley-John Watling's tally of 15 dismissals is a record by a wicketkeeper in India-New Zealand Tests. He is the only New Zealand wicketkeeper to effect 15 dismissals in a Test series. Kamran Akmal holds a record by effecting 16 dismissals in a two-Test series for Pakistan against West Indies in 2005.

# Watling and Neesham have provided the second instance when two New Zealand batsmen at number seven or lower registering centuries in a Test innings. The only other instance for New Zealand was when Brendon McCullum (111) and Daniel Vettori (127) scored centuries as number seven and eight respectively against Zimbabwe at Harare in August 2005.

# For the sixth time, three batsmen have recorded hundreds in the same Test innings for New Zealand - three against India, two against England and one against Australia.

 

(Stats courtesy: Rajesh Kumar)